‘Mechanismo’ and ‘The Boys’…
(Blogger seems to have something against posting images at the moment so apologies for the 'wall of text'...)
Thanks for bearing with me yesterday, I wouldn’t say that I got everything done (that I needed to) but it helped to park the blog, for a day, and give myself a little breathing space. I ended up giving myself the evening off and spent a little time with a couple of comic books that I really should have read a lot sooner. Better late than never though ;o) Let me tell you about them…
‘Mechanismo: Machine Law’ – Wagner, McCrea, Macneill (Rebellion)
Page Count: 96 Pages
Still understaffed from the Day of Chaos, the Justice Department prepares once more to trial a radical solution: the Mark-8 RV Mechanismo Unit. Responsive, resilient, empathetic and expendable; the upgraded robot Judges supposedly have none of the deadly flaws of previous models. Judge Dredd has never hidden his feelings on the machines, but is ordered to put aside his prejudices and conduct an assessment with one of the new models, nicknamed HARVEY…
I love a bit of ‘Judge Dredd’ but wouldn’t say that I’m a massive expert or anything like that. What I do know though is that every so often (usually when a big event has happened and the Judges are struggling in the aftermath) someone asks, ‘is Dredd ready to have robot Judges on the streets of Mega City One’? This time round, Wagner sidelines Dredd (more or less) and asks if the citizens themselves are ready; even when (nearly all of) the Mechanismo Units are behaving themselves.
I had vague memories of the first two ‘Mechanismo’ stories being all ‘whose guns/attitude packed the bigger punch’, with some very ‘direct’ storytelling, so it was a nice surprise to see Wagner take a more thoughtful approach here. Dredd has his say but is ultimately overruled and so ‘Machine Law’ is about he has to cope with change while upholding the Law at the same time. This is Mega City One we’re talking about so while Dredd is working through this, the citizens are out of control and there’s a coup in the offing as well. Wagner combines all these elements and comes up with a tale that got me thinking but with enough madness, in the background, for it to feel like a ‘proper Judge Dredd’ tale. I think that’s three ‘Mechanismo’ tales now; if there’s a fourth, I wonder where it will go next?
‘The Boys: Omnibus Volume Three’ – Ennis, Robertson, McCrea, Ezquerra (Dynamite)
Page Count: 344 Pages
An evil so profound it threatens all mankind! The mightiest heroes on the planet uniting to defend us all! A secret crisis of such utter finality that a countdown to civil or infinite war seems unavoidable! But have you ever wondered what really happens during Crossovers? The Seven, Payback, Teenage Kix, Fantastico, and every other superhero on Earth team up for an annual event like no other - and where the superheroes go, can a certain "five complications and a dog" be far behind? But as the fun and games begin, it seems our heroes have set their sights on bigger game than usual.
You can only maim and murder so many superheroes before someone decides to do something about it, and in The Boys' case that means Payback - a superteam of unimaginable power, second only to the mighty Seven. Pulping teenage supes is one thing, but how will our heroes fare against Soldier Boy, Mind-Droid, Swatto, the Crimson Countess, and the Nazi juggernaut known as Stormfront? Blood flies and bones shatter, as Butcher and company meet fire with fire.
I’ll be honest… It has been a while since I read ‘Omnibus Volume Two’ so while ‘Herogasm’ was a lot of fun to read, I wasn’t a hundred precent sure what was going on underneath all the ‘party stuff’. Had I just left it too long, between books, or are things only just starting to come to light? Probably a bit of both, knowing me ;o) Either way, I won’t leave it so long before reading the Fourth Omnibus.
A bit of a confusing read then but that’s more than likely on me. Honestly, the state of my head at the moment, I don’t just need brightly coloured pictures, I need all the text to be in words of one syllable as well. Dammit :o(
Anyway.. It wasn’t all bad. Like I said, ‘Herogasm’ was a lot of fun to read but what is always more fun is spotting the ‘Easter Eggs’, and there are a lot of those here. I’ll never see the Avengers in quite the same way again…
The book rounds off on a more thoughtful note, with a few ‘origin stories’ and as soon as I’m done with this post, I will dig out ‘Volume 4’ so I don’t leave it so long again. At this stage, if I had to choose between the TV show and comic book… I’ll have to get back to you on that one.
Thanks for bearing with me yesterday, I wouldn’t say that I got everything done (that I needed to) but it helped to park the blog, for a day, and give myself a little breathing space. I ended up giving myself the evening off and spent a little time with a couple of comic books that I really should have read a lot sooner. Better late than never though ;o) Let me tell you about them…
‘Mechanismo: Machine Law’ – Wagner, McCrea, Macneill (Rebellion)
Page Count: 96 Pages
Still understaffed from the Day of Chaos, the Justice Department prepares once more to trial a radical solution: the Mark-8 RV Mechanismo Unit. Responsive, resilient, empathetic and expendable; the upgraded robot Judges supposedly have none of the deadly flaws of previous models. Judge Dredd has never hidden his feelings on the machines, but is ordered to put aside his prejudices and conduct an assessment with one of the new models, nicknamed HARVEY…
I love a bit of ‘Judge Dredd’ but wouldn’t say that I’m a massive expert or anything like that. What I do know though is that every so often (usually when a big event has happened and the Judges are struggling in the aftermath) someone asks, ‘is Dredd ready to have robot Judges on the streets of Mega City One’? This time round, Wagner sidelines Dredd (more or less) and asks if the citizens themselves are ready; even when (nearly all of) the Mechanismo Units are behaving themselves.
I had vague memories of the first two ‘Mechanismo’ stories being all ‘whose guns/attitude packed the bigger punch’, with some very ‘direct’ storytelling, so it was a nice surprise to see Wagner take a more thoughtful approach here. Dredd has his say but is ultimately overruled and so ‘Machine Law’ is about he has to cope with change while upholding the Law at the same time. This is Mega City One we’re talking about so while Dredd is working through this, the citizens are out of control and there’s a coup in the offing as well. Wagner combines all these elements and comes up with a tale that got me thinking but with enough madness, in the background, for it to feel like a ‘proper Judge Dredd’ tale. I think that’s three ‘Mechanismo’ tales now; if there’s a fourth, I wonder where it will go next?
‘The Boys: Omnibus Volume Three’ – Ennis, Robertson, McCrea, Ezquerra (Dynamite)
Page Count: 344 Pages
An evil so profound it threatens all mankind! The mightiest heroes on the planet uniting to defend us all! A secret crisis of such utter finality that a countdown to civil or infinite war seems unavoidable! But have you ever wondered what really happens during Crossovers? The Seven, Payback, Teenage Kix, Fantastico, and every other superhero on Earth team up for an annual event like no other - and where the superheroes go, can a certain "five complications and a dog" be far behind? But as the fun and games begin, it seems our heroes have set their sights on bigger game than usual.
You can only maim and murder so many superheroes before someone decides to do something about it, and in The Boys' case that means Payback - a superteam of unimaginable power, second only to the mighty Seven. Pulping teenage supes is one thing, but how will our heroes fare against Soldier Boy, Mind-Droid, Swatto, the Crimson Countess, and the Nazi juggernaut known as Stormfront? Blood flies and bones shatter, as Butcher and company meet fire with fire.
I’ll be honest… It has been a while since I read ‘Omnibus Volume Two’ so while ‘Herogasm’ was a lot of fun to read, I wasn’t a hundred precent sure what was going on underneath all the ‘party stuff’. Had I just left it too long, between books, or are things only just starting to come to light? Probably a bit of both, knowing me ;o) Either way, I won’t leave it so long before reading the Fourth Omnibus.
A bit of a confusing read then but that’s more than likely on me. Honestly, the state of my head at the moment, I don’t just need brightly coloured pictures, I need all the text to be in words of one syllable as well. Dammit :o(
Anyway.. It wasn’t all bad. Like I said, ‘Herogasm’ was a lot of fun to read but what is always more fun is spotting the ‘Easter Eggs’, and there are a lot of those here. I’ll never see the Avengers in quite the same way again…
The book rounds off on a more thoughtful note, with a few ‘origin stories’ and as soon as I’m done with this post, I will dig out ‘Volume 4’ so I don’t leave it so long again. At this stage, if I had to choose between the TV show and comic book… I’ll have to get back to you on that one.
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