Recommended Dredd

2000AD featuring British comic icon, Judge Dredd (Anthrax wrote a song about him once), has a long and complicated history to say the least. And since the success of the 2012 movie Dredd with Karl Urban doing a stellar job as Mega City One's most feared lawman, newcomers to Dredd's world can easily get lost amidst the ton of storylines. He first appeared way back in 1977 remember, from creator John Wagner. So adventures? Yeah, Dreddy has quite a few, and a lot of those are classic must~reads too. Its a daunting task tracking them all down but that helpful pic (above) should put you straight.

Now run along creeps, you've got some reading to do Drokk it!

Commando Comics

The famous badge

Commando comics (formerly Commando War Stories in Pictures), began its life in Scotland in 1961 courtesy of D.C. Thomson of Dundee. They are a series of British comic books that are inspired by incidents from World Wars I & II and use it as a running theme. I remember first seeing them in a local newsagents as a boy in the late seventies and always thought the handy pocket size a nice idea because you didn't have to fold it like the Beano and thus spoil it. Comic fans are funny about little things like creasing but now all that is a distant memory! Why? Because like with everything else, you can get an App to read them. I love living in the future!
And whats great is when you subscribe, being the kind folk they are, D.C. Thompson will shout you 4 free comics ('Combat Zone', 'Desert Vengeance', Jack's Private War' 'The Winter Warriors). That's 66 pages per comic so you get *does sums* 264 of brilliantly drawn action. Cool huh? Be warned though, they are better read on a tablet because I found using an iPhone got to be a strain after a few pages.

World War Hulk Movie?

War!

The Hulk may be getting another stand-alone movie after Avengers 2. Thats exciting enough but get this: it is thought that the new film will take its plot from the Planet Hulk and World War Hulk storyline! HULK SMASH!!

One Year Today!

Comics Me reaches its first birthday today! Now if only I could design cakes I would be making one exactly like the cover of vintage 80s comic Scream up there.

Planet Hulk

Picked Planet Hulk up on dvd (in Morrisons of all places) for a mere £3. And thanks to the superpowers of Yourube, you can watch it for free below! Highly recommended by this humble blog, as is the follow up story arc, World War Hulk.

A Thor(n) In My Super Side

Thor: he's a tad mighty

I finally went out and bought Thor last friday, being as Hollywood seem to be getting the superhero films right these days. Batman, The X Men, Iron Man have all been pretty decent stabs at bringing the comic world to the silver screen (I even like both Hulks despite what critics say) and after seeing the trailer to Thor, I was expecting good things from it. (You know theres a 'but' coming right?) Buuuut, I was let down. I wanted Thor to be a great movie, I wanted it to be as cool as Iron Man yet on the two occasions ive put the disc in and pressed PLAY I have not been able to get to the end. And yes I do have a sad face because like I say, I WANT Thor to rock! He's a bloody great character and has appeared in some fantastic storylines in his 50 years of being. The guy deserves a cool movie but in my opinion, director Kenneth Branagh dropped the ball. Or should I say hammer? I think Chris Hemsworth is perfect for the role but after that (again in my eyes) the perfection goes rapidly downhill.
The film feels like a chore to watch after 15 or so minutes, which is hardly a good sign and I cant exactly put my finger on what is that doesn't do it for me. Well okay heres two: it lacked the 'oomph' the other superhero films of late have had (and had in abundance). Another part of it is my fellow countryman Anthony Hopkins. Wonderful actor, enjoy his work greatly but seeing him in a superhero movie is strange. Why this should be I have no idea, and yet there it is. On the plus side I can see Thor coming good in forthcoming The Avengers flick, and of course there is Thor 2 due in 2013. My thorn may yet be plucked out.

Comic Pick Ups

Picked up these at The Works.

Retro Batman

Some cool choices

Since his birth in 1939, Batman has had quite a few different styles of badge/logo. And to be fair they have all looked pretty neat, apart from the one that looks like a TIE Fighter (right side, one from bottom in above pic). The designs have all been different whilst managing not to stray too far from the original. Even the Bacardi type bat is nice.
However my favourite is the one that was used for the 1960's television series starring Adam West & Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo. For me it looks perfect; I love the chunky, 'batty' style of the lettering and the way the Batman's head is sunk into the wings. It looks both retro and modern at the same time.


My winner


And since I decided to call this post 'Retro Batman', I thought I might drop some cool trivia in about the 60's tv series.
Green Hornet & Kato teamed up with Batman & Robin in two episodes, 'A Piece Of The Action' and 'Batman's Satisfaction' to take on Colonel Gumm.
Van Williams played the Green Hornet and Kato was famously played by none other than the legendary Bruce Lee.
Cast yer peepers to the photograph below. Awesome!


Kato, Green Hornet, Batman & Robin

Metallica

And comics for all

I bought this Metallica comic 20 years ago in a comic shop in Swansea. It was published by Revolutionary/RockRoll comics and basically tells the story of the band up until the And Justice For All album. Its not particularly terrible for Metallica fans but there's nothing in it we didn't already now about the band. Dave Mustaine's sacking, Cliff Burton's tragic death, the big stories are all obviously covered.
Do not expect any colour however. This comic is strictly a black and white affair. And the likenesses aren't wonderful either. The artist has managed to make Ozzy Osbourne look like a fat butcher with only one tattoo. He looks more like an extra from Coronation Street.
There are a few other comedy strips after the Metallica story but nothing that stands out.
Saying all this, I am glad ive got it because if nothing else its a cool addition to my metal collection. One for fans of the music only im afraid.

Zombie Comics!

A bumper read indeed!

Saw this in the Works shop in 2009 for £4.99p, The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics and obviously being a big zombie and comic fan, I HAD to have it. And there are some great tales in here I can assure you from the uber spooky Pigeons From Hell by Robert E Howard & Scott Hampton to the brilliant Dead Eyes Open by Mathew Shepherd & Roy Boney Jr which treads a different path from the usual undead stories.
One of my favourites is Necrotic: Dead Flesh On a Living Body (Buddy Scalera, M. Swank & Pat Quinn) which is all about a mummy (the bandaged Egyptian kind) who falls in love. Has a beautifully dark 'ick' factor!
There are 18 flesh rotting stories in all, ranging from short to full length graphic novels complete with chapters, and these are accompanied by some REALLY lush illustrations (especially in the aforementioned Pigeons From Hell).