He Man: By the Power of iOS !

Skeletor where art thou?

He-Man: The Most Powerful Man in the Universe™ (you simply must give him his full title) has recently crashed onto iPhone courtesy of the rather spiffing Chillingo Ltd, and the muscled one has brought his chums along for the ride too. And his enemies (otherwise we'd just end up with a friendly Sims type game which would be crap.)
Defend Castle Grayskull against that fiendish (but cool looking) Skeletor and crew and glory shall be yours in this platformery, hack n' slashery fest! All for the cheap as chips price* of 69p. Sweet huh?
There are 7 main levels in the Map Of Eternia to battle through, each with around 3-4 stages, and they don't disappoint either, especially if you were a fan of Masters Of The Universe back in the day (and lets be honest, who wasn't? Its He Man ffs!) Its looks LUSH, and not only that but Chillingo Ltd have slapped the cool soundtrack in the background. When you look at the complete package its hard to believe they are letting gamers have it for a measly 69p. You could pay £2.99 and not feel overcharged. iOS and iPad owners really are spoilt rotten. Oh yes we are!
Controls are simple: left finger touch to move and right finger to make He Man jump and slash his sword. Ah yes that sword. I do have (an albeit minor) gripe about this. Here we have the mightiest guy in the universe right? A man built like the Hulk, I should feel some of that power when I play this game (like playing Arkham City makes me feel a bit like the Batman.) But because there is just one swipe-down slash move I feel more puny than powerful. Don't get me wrong, it works as you can smite baddies to dust but to me at least it doesn't FEEL as satisfying as it should.
Of course you can buy special moves from gold earned in game, and having He Man throw beasts towards you and smashing into the iPhone screen is freaking awesome but when they cost 2,500 coins each, you won't be doing it much.
For less coinage you can have Man-At-Arms help you mid fight but I think he's been hitting the Scotch because 9 out of 10 times ive tried using him, the idiot fires his lasers in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of where the thugs are!? Man-At-Arms? Man-At-Bottle more like. Lets hope my friends are a it more helpful as I progress into the game because in spite of these grumbles im thoroughly enjoying He Man's first dip into iOS waters and would be well up for another adventure or two.

But wait theres more! As well as the game we also get a Masters Of The Universe 'Lore' area which is packed with bios, artwork, comic covers and concept artwork. Like I said, we are spoilt to the gills and its a nice touch if you happen to be into this kind of stuff.

Comics Me gives this a solid 4/5

*You can purchase Power Ups for more real dosh in game.

Death Of The Family

Smiiiile !!

Yup, the Joker is back in Gotham City in "Death Of The Family" and boy what an entrance! In case you haven't got around to reading the first installment yet (download it now for £2.49 from the DC app on iPhone), I wont go spoiling it but its typical Joker and a welcome return to the Clown Prince of Crime. I fear Batman will have more than his hands full in this storyline, and from where im standing its gonna get real bloody.
The Maniacal One even goes all Hannibal Lector on his most dedicated supporter, Harley Quinn.

*** Tease ***

Harley (about to carve her face off on Joker's orders): Would you still find me beautiful mr J?
Joker: My dear, whoever told you I ever found you beautiful? Hahahaha!
Cue sad Harley eyes.

Menacing, cruel, psychotic, mocking. You can almost feel the nastiness drip from the page/screen. Tis a dark storyline that lies ahead to be sure.
Adding to the atmosphere (in my opinion) is the 'feathery' style of the artwork in some panels. They are a stark contrast to other areas when the art is quite striking and harsh which illustrates perfectly (again for me) the danger that the Joker poses. Its unpredictable, violence hanging by a thread, always ready to spread carnage. Soft and hard, which way will it go?
So this storyline gets clean out of the block and I for one can't wait for the next installment. I have a feeling im not along either. Smiiiileee ! The Joker's back.

"Look into his eyes and tell yourself he's just a man. Tell yourself he can't know the things he says he does. He can't know your fears. But he has Alfred. He has your friend. And his eyes...

...You have studied the human eye. There are six eye movements that reveal motive, then fifteen variations of each one.

On everyone else you face ~ even the most hardened criminals ~ the pupils contract or expand depending on emotion.

Happiness, laughter, affection. The pupils open.
Fear, anger, hatred, the pupils close.

But not his. His pupils stay fixed, tiny points of blackness, the eyes of someone who hates everything, everyone.
Eyes that let in no light, that see through the darkness, stare into you, each pupil a tiny black pearl fixed in space.

A bullet coming at you. Eyes that say he's more than a man, eyes that say he knows you.
No, you know what he is. Tell yourself the truth. He's just a man who fell in a vat of chemical waste.
He's just a man. Like you, made of bone and tissue and blood."

Deadman Wonderland

Episode 1 pt I




Episode 1 pt 2




Episode 2 pt 1




Episode 2 prt 2





Episode 3 pt I



Episode 3 pt II

Ichabod Azrael

"The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the dead left in his wake)" is a 2000 AD supernatural western story written by Rob Williams with art by Dom Reardon.
This is part of the intro to the story:
I wish I could tell you that Ichabod's father was taken to drink or discipline by belt and fist. That life immediately treated the boy as it would a loathed enemy. But the way I heard it, his upbringing was a hard but normal one for the age.
I guess some people are just born mean.
Stories vary over when Ichabod first drew the blood of another. I even heard a song one night by a campfire that told how his 'baptism' saw him facing down twenty rifle-packing men on horseback armed with only one pistol.
The next day Ichabod owned twenty new horses....or so the song went.

I love this, there is a real gritty wild west groove going on here.

Truly stunning artwork

Guess Who's Back....?

Vengeance of Bane!

Look out Batman

The superb "Vengeange of Bane" (parts 1 & 2) are now on sale on Marvel's iPhone App for £1.49 each. It is Banes entrance into the world of the Batman and Gotham, and after Bane was brought up to serve his fathers life sentence at the brutal Pena Duro prison, becoming the toughest of the tough among inmates, Bats better bring his A game. Comic fans will all know the story by know so little point repeating the saga again here. (To anyone reading this who hasn't read Vengeance Of Bane, do so.) I thoroughly enjoyed reading these again on my phone, and the pinch screen to enlarge speech bubbles works well too. The artwork and colours are very impressive, both vibrant and show up nicely.

I had my doubts initially over reading comics and graphic novels on iPhone but im happy to report that these doubts have been suitably tossed aside. Ive read quite a few on it now, including World War Hulk, The Walking Dead and The Bezerker and none have disappointed.  

 

Hulk vs Thor