Bits and Pieces…
This weekend didn’t involve much reading at all… It did involve a picnic, flying a kite, watching ‘Superstore’ (again), getting beaten at Uno (again, again and again...) and falling asleep when I really should have stayed awake. Reading though, not so much. That’s just the way it goes sometimes, I’ll just have to try harder this week ;o)
It’s me doing the talking though so there was a little reading that happened around the edges of all the other stuff. And it absolutely won’t surprise you, in the least, to hear that is was all about ‘Conan’, ‘Event Horizon’ and a little Warhammer 40K to round things off. They were all quick reads so it’s very much a ‘quick thoughts’ kind of post today, hope you don’t mind…
‘Event Horizon: Inferno’ #2 – Ward, Carey, Honchar (ID Dark)
It feels like an absolute age since I picked up #1 (it has only been a few weeks but damn, the time hasn’t exactly flown…) so I tried #2, promptly went back for a re-read of #1 and then tackled #2 again. It all made a little more sense that time, it might just be me (more than likely) but you might want to bear that in mind.
Onto the comic itself and, well… The potential in this tale is very much still there (and Carey’s art really backs this up) but various plot threads are still being maneuvered into place so don’t expect things to move at any great pace. It’s still early days so I’m not too bothered about this, Skylar’s tale is worth a little waiting for the main plot to kick off. Just one question that I’m hoping will be explored… We’ve seen Starck and Justin, what about about the ‘funky spaceman’ himself, Cooper?
‘The Savage Sword of Conan’ #14 – Various (Titan Comics/Heroic Signatures)
While I’ve struggled to work through the collected volumes (possibly because of the size, I don’t know for sure), I’ve found myself looking forward to the single issues over the last few months. From where I was sat (in the comfy chair), #14 varied in quality but still made for a entertaining evenings read.
Most of the comic is spent telling the tale of the ‘Dwellers of the Oasis’. There aren’t any big surprises and again, I’d argue that’s the whole point of these stories, maybe even ‘Sword and Sorcery’ in general. What I will say though is that Jim Zub knows his way round a ‘Conan’ tale and chronicles an adventure here that not only engages but also answers questions that you have may have had, reading the original REH tales. I appreciate the effort taken here to fill in ‘continuity gaps’. And some gorgeously detailed art from Ivan Gil is the icing on the cake.
Matthew John’s ‘Faces of Doom’ is a quick, fun, read that has plenty going for it (while you’re reading) but at only a page in length, probably doesn’t have the staying power to be truly memorable. Fun while it lasted though.
To round #14 off, we have a tale of Belit, and her crew, chancing upon a mysterious island with an even more mysterious temple at its heart. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too impressed by ‘Becoming a Goddess’, the artwork didn’t compare to Gil’s (your mileage may vary etc) and the plot was a little too straightforward to really resonate with me. I don’t know… Maybe Belit needed a longer, perhaps more involved, tale to really shine here? I’ll have to think on that a little more.
And then it was onto a little Warhammer ‘short story action’, courtesy of the Kindle App on my phone. Not an awful lot to say here as Joe Parrino’s ‘No Worse Sin’ weighs in at a barely visible eight pages and, as a result, reads like a pitch for something longer. Not a bad read but very much a reminder that there is only so much story you can tell in eight pages. What did catch my eye though (and is probably the main reason that I grabbed the story in the first place) is that in war-torn universe of the 41st Millennium, the Brazen Claws Space Marines Chapter are ‘playing’ in the colours of FC Barcelona…
David Annandale’s ‘The Judges, In Their Hunger’ is also painfully slender (eight pages) but manages to tell more of a story. Again though, the ‘short and sweet’ approach plays against the story, getting the reader all worked up for a lengthier plot that never arrives. I mean, yep, I chose to buy these tales as they were quick reads but… In the future, I’m going to wait for these tales to feature in larger collections before picking them up. My wallet will thank me :o)
It’s me doing the talking though so there was a little reading that happened around the edges of all the other stuff. And it absolutely won’t surprise you, in the least, to hear that is was all about ‘Conan’, ‘Event Horizon’ and a little Warhammer 40K to round things off. They were all quick reads so it’s very much a ‘quick thoughts’ kind of post today, hope you don’t mind…
‘Event Horizon: Inferno’ #2 – Ward, Carey, Honchar (ID Dark)
It feels like an absolute age since I picked up #1 (it has only been a few weeks but damn, the time hasn’t exactly flown…) so I tried #2, promptly went back for a re-read of #1 and then tackled #2 again. It all made a little more sense that time, it might just be me (more than likely) but you might want to bear that in mind.
Onto the comic itself and, well… The potential in this tale is very much still there (and Carey’s art really backs this up) but various plot threads are still being maneuvered into place so don’t expect things to move at any great pace. It’s still early days so I’m not too bothered about this, Skylar’s tale is worth a little waiting for the main plot to kick off. Just one question that I’m hoping will be explored… We’ve seen Starck and Justin, what about about the ‘funky spaceman’ himself, Cooper?
‘The Savage Sword of Conan’ #14 – Various (Titan Comics/Heroic Signatures)
While I’ve struggled to work through the collected volumes (possibly because of the size, I don’t know for sure), I’ve found myself looking forward to the single issues over the last few months. From where I was sat (in the comfy chair), #14 varied in quality but still made for a entertaining evenings read.
Most of the comic is spent telling the tale of the ‘Dwellers of the Oasis’. There aren’t any big surprises and again, I’d argue that’s the whole point of these stories, maybe even ‘Sword and Sorcery’ in general. What I will say though is that Jim Zub knows his way round a ‘Conan’ tale and chronicles an adventure here that not only engages but also answers questions that you have may have had, reading the original REH tales. I appreciate the effort taken here to fill in ‘continuity gaps’. And some gorgeously detailed art from Ivan Gil is the icing on the cake.
Matthew John’s ‘Faces of Doom’ is a quick, fun, read that has plenty going for it (while you’re reading) but at only a page in length, probably doesn’t have the staying power to be truly memorable. Fun while it lasted though.
To round #14 off, we have a tale of Belit, and her crew, chancing upon a mysterious island with an even more mysterious temple at its heart. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too impressed by ‘Becoming a Goddess’, the artwork didn’t compare to Gil’s (your mileage may vary etc) and the plot was a little too straightforward to really resonate with me. I don’t know… Maybe Belit needed a longer, perhaps more involved, tale to really shine here? I’ll have to think on that a little more.
And then it was onto a little Warhammer ‘short story action’, courtesy of the Kindle App on my phone. Not an awful lot to say here as Joe Parrino’s ‘No Worse Sin’ weighs in at a barely visible eight pages and, as a result, reads like a pitch for something longer. Not a bad read but very much a reminder that there is only so much story you can tell in eight pages. What did catch my eye though (and is probably the main reason that I grabbed the story in the first place) is that in war-torn universe of the 41st Millennium, the Brazen Claws Space Marines Chapter are ‘playing’ in the colours of FC Barcelona…
David Annandale’s ‘The Judges, In Their Hunger’ is also painfully slender (eight pages) but manages to tell more of a story. Again though, the ‘short and sweet’ approach plays against the story, getting the reader all worked up for a lengthier plot that never arrives. I mean, yep, I chose to buy these tales as they were quick reads but… In the future, I’m going to wait for these tales to feature in larger collections before picking them up. My wallet will thank me :o)
Uno is a great game :-D
ReplyDeleteI enjoy playing Uno, just not a big fan of constantly losing to my 12 year old daughter... ;o)
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