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Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Ritesh Babu

Peacemaker Premiere Review: A Hell Of A Debut!

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Spin-offs can be a tricky business. Is it too much? Is it diluting what was in the original material? Is it lesser than said material? Was it worth it? A lot of questions immediately pop up. That’s twice as true when you’re dealing with a spin-off built around resurrecting a dead character. And very specifically, a character whose death was central and pivotal to the original material in question. So there’s a number of questions, but also, ultimately, just one:

Does it work?

I’m happy to report that, at least for my money,  Peacemaker absolutely does.

But before we dig into that, let’s consider what all brought us here a moment. [Read more…] about Peacemaker Premiere Review: A Hell Of A Debut!

The Moment I Truly Loved Judge Dredd

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I’d always liked Judge Dredd.

I remember seeing the 2012 film adaptation, starring Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby. It was a tremendously entertaining film. I thought it rather a shame that it didn’t do better commercially, thus being viable for more sequels. Alex Garland and Pete Travis’ film was a tightly constructed story, and a good time. I thought ‘neat’.

But I didn’t love Dredd. [Read more…] about The Moment I Truly Loved Judge Dredd

The X-Men & Me: Reflections on a Metaphor

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[Forewarning: This is purely a personal account and view of my own relationship to Marvel’s Mutantdom. It is not by any means intended to be an end-all-be-all perspective or an all-encompassing thing nor a ‘Here’s Why It Bad’ or any kind of harsh judgement. Take it purely for what it is, which is as a reflection on a concept as it relates to personal interest.]

I’ve never been a big fan of The X-Men.

Well, actually, that’s not true. [Read more…] about The X-Men & Me: Reflections on a Metaphor

Ending To Grant Morrison’s Bat-Epic: The Hole In Things

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There is a hole in things.

The inexplicable absence. The piece that does not fit. The nothingness we cannot know.

It is in you. It is in me. It is in all of us, all around us. The things we can’t explain, the things we can’t know, the things we cannot prepare for. That which we can never understand, rationalize, ‘explain’ or break down. That which just is and must be contended with. Its absoluteness both infinitesimal and infinite.

It is every dark, dreadful thought we can’t make sense of, it is every stupid notion and petty cruelty that is a means to nothing except itself. It is all the gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the world, the universe, and ourselves. It is the reality we all contend with, never truly know, never fully understand, always missing something. It is the forgotten thoughts, the fading memories, all the things we can’t retain or get back. Life isn’t the easily explained order, but the chaotic mess of disorder.

The Hole In Things is our broken essence, our darkness, the void at the heart of all of us, and everything, the super-blackhole that reality is surrounded by, the immensity we cover up with our assumptions and ideas.

The hole is important because what isn’t there is just as important as what is. Humanity, people, are defined not just by what we know and are, but what we don’t know and what we are not. To be human is to try and push against that immensity of nothingness, that infinite absence, that absolute void, to be more. To cover up that hole, to fill it up, to ascend higher, that is the human project. That is our essential nature. We make planes, for we yearn to fly. We build rockets, for we wish to touch the stars. All that we cannot do, we yearn to do. All that which is held as impossible, we try and smash, to prove as utterly possible, in our own way, despite our human limitations.

The Hole is forever, it is eternal, and it is the sum totality against which all of human endeavor is built. It is because The Hole exists that we do, in the way we do. For without our imperfections, all our little flaws, all the things we wish we were not, who would we be? What would we dream of? What else would push us to touch the stars, if we were already able to at birth? What would be the pursuit of knowledge, if it was all present in our minds upon arrival into existence? To push up against that cosmic void is our destiny, it is our purpose, it is our journey in life.

And it is not a journey we measure the success of in accomplishments, but in the attempt itself. To try itself is human.

This is what Grant Morrison’s The Bat-Epic hinges on. [Read more…] about Ending To Grant Morrison’s Bat-Epic: The Hole In Things

All-Star Superman: The Man Of Action

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[Content/Trigger Warning: Suicide]

At the tender age of 16, I was deeply depressed.

My childhood, from about age 8, had been a stressful mess full of fear, anxiety, sobbing, and obsessive worrying. And by my teens, I’d found that I had managed to somehow keep on, if not necessarily ‘cope’ with the circumstances that never seemed to go away. There was a ‘numbness’ as I call it, which helped me take, accept and endure all the rubbish life seemed intent on throwing in my face.

It was tiresome, but it was also, as I came to understand it, life. I’d never known any other beyond it. I could scarcely imagine beyond it. Any alternative I had heard was in stories- hearing others speak, or in fiction. I’d hear it all and feel a deep sense of envy.

Ah. Normal.

I wish I had that. [Read more…] about All-Star Superman: The Man Of Action