supeskenobi's reviews
43 reviews

All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Batman: The Killing Joke by Brian Bolland, Tim Sale, Alan Moore

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Alan Moore's seminal 1988 graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke, has gone down in history as being one of the greatest comic books of all time. Despite clocking in at a relatively low 50 pages, it packs one hell of a cerebral punch and offers up a compelling, dark, grotesque look into comic books most iconic villains; The Joker. So impactful was this, that within a year it served as the origin story for The Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 movie 'Batman'. The origin story told here, has also gone down as essentially the de-facto origin story for the 'Clown Prince of Crime.' Is it his true origin story? Who knows. He doesn't, but it does do one thing that should've been impossible; it makes you feel sorry for the Joker (well the man he was before he became the Joker mainly). 

 

The battle between Batman and the Joker, is perhaps at its most cerebral here as Joker desperately, frantically tries to get Batman to see the world like here does; as one big joke. Further adding to this, I personally feel that their rivalry was brought to quite possibly its most personal level, until 'A Death in the Family' later that same year. Here we see the Joker slip into depths of depravity I don't think he has ever, or really should ever sink to ever again. 

 

It's hard to give any level of serious critique of this seminal story (and it is seminal for its massive status quo change) without talking about the most controversial aspect of this story. Here we see the Joker shooting Barbara Gordon through the stomach, shattering her spine and leaving unable to use her legs ever again. During this, the Joker undresses Barbara and takes perverse photos of her naked, bleeding corpse. These photos are later shown to her father, James Gordon (and us the reader though we don't see anything too explicit and graphic), as a way to torment him and drive him into insanity. 

 

This is where I find the story goes too far in highlighting Joker's depravity and even Alan Moore agrees that he went too far and that DC should've reigned him in. The Joker is a sick and twisted monster, degenerate and disgusting, but would he go this far? He can make jokes about the dark things that happen in the world, but to show him perversely revelling in this...it goes too far. Joker is psychotic, yes, but this just doesn't feel right. 

 

On a more positive note, the artwork by Brian Bolland is stunning and perhaps one of my favourite drawn graphic novels. The colouring and attention to detail really is second to none, and I actually prefer the black and white flashback sequences as opposed to the colour versions from the original 1988 version. 

 

Overall, Batman: The Killing Joke is perhaps one of the best comics ever written. It explores the dynamic between Batman and Joker in a way that I don't think has ever really been explored before or done since, or if it has then it hasn't been done as well. Despite Alan Moore's less than stellar thoughts on the comic now, and the really bizarre mini story at the end of this edition which doesn't really go anywhere (though the artwork is stunning), this still is a good little read. Moore did for Joker what Miller did for Batman, in giving us a compelling and long lasting origin for one of the most iconic characters of the last one hundred years. 

 

This was my first ever graphic novel. I bought it back in 2012 when I was around 13/14 and getting into Batman and Superheroes for the first time, and for the longest time this was the only graphic novel I owned. Whilst my own knowledge of comic books and the genre as a whole is limited, I no longer hold this story in as high regards as I once did. Perhaps it's age, perhaps it simply due to reading other stories I have enjoyed better, or maybe it's because some of the criticism levied at this story have finally sunk in; but I wouldn't really count it in my top ten Superhero/Batman stories anymore. I can appreciate it for what it did for the genre, its impact on these characters and the wider DC Universe as a whole, but alas; I don't get the same level of enjoyment as I used to get out of it these days. Still the artwork is bloody phenomenal. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Justice League, Volume 1: The Extinction Machines by Bryan Hitch

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Batman: Arkham City by Paul Dini, Carlos D'Anda

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A brilliantly entertaining tease of one of the best video games of all time. Paul Dini continues to prove why he is one of the greatest writers to ever approach 'The Dark Knight'. 

Batman Vol. 1: I Am Gotham by Tom King

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time by Paul Cornell

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Day of the Doctor. The fiftieth anniversary episode celebrating the greatest sci-fi show of all time. A triumph in writing and acting, The Day of the Doctor has gone on to be, rightfully, celebrated as one of the greatest episodes of Doctor Who ever made. However if one reads or watches any interview with the episode's writer, the then show-runner, Steven Moffat; you will know that the writing of the episode was something akin to a nightmare. So the fact that Moffat decided to come back to the story five years later and, in many ways, re-write the damn thing, is either incredibly commendable; or bloody insane. Or perhaps, like The Doctor himself; it's a little bit of both. 

 

For the most part, the story is the same as what was broadcast nearly ten years ago this November. Three incarnations of The Doctor (the Tenth, Eleventh and a never before seen incarnation called 'The War Doctor' or 'The Warrior played by the late, great Sir John Hurt) join forces on the last day of 'The Time War' to thwart the schemes of Zygons in Elizabethan England and save The Doctor's home world from destruction that will come at either the hands of The Doctor's mortal enemies, The Daleks or by his own hand. 

 

Perhaps the best, and oftentimes the most confusing, aspect of this novelisation is, unlike most stories that are being told, where there is either a first or third person narrative (or in rare circumstances a second person narrative); this book is told across multiple point of views, in both first and third person, sometimes in the same chapter and even sometimes from the same character. This is most evident during any chapter written by The Doctor (which is most of them), for you see, this book is not a conventional re-telling of the story, but rather told from a collection of papers called "The Doctor Papers"; each written by The Doctor themselves. Each chapter has a small "breather" section written from someone else’s point of view. 

 

Now whilst this is brilliant as it allows the story to be told in a fresh and newer, more sexier (as the Moff would be wont to say) could be a bit of a bugger for new readers. It is therefore advised that before reading this book, one should reacquaint oneself with the television story, especially the six minute short "The Night of the Doctor" beforehand. Once you have done that, what you'll find is a largely faithful retelling of the story; however, by allowing us to go inside The Doctor's heads (there are three of them after all) we see and understand so much more than we were allowed to see on TV. Also moments become far more detailed and explored, such as why the Tenth Doctor was flirting it off with Elizabeth I? 

 

All in all, The Day of the Doctor, much like it's televisual counterpart, is a masterpiece in non-linear, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey storytelling, with many laughs, tears, shouts of joy, callbacks and fan-service to leave the most diehard Doctor Who fan pleased. 

Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Ah the Target Novelizations. The only way for people to revisit their favourite Doctor Who episodes, in a by-gone era where repeats and VHS/DVDs; didn't exist. Now as someone who grew up with Nu-Who and the almost endless repeats on BBC 3, I consider myself and people of my age incredibly lucky that we had easy access to these stories right from the very beginning of our Doctor Who fandom thanks to BBC 3 and the old basic DVD releases (with up to three and sometimes four Who stories!!!), so when the BBC announced they were bringing back the Target Novels for a brand new era of the show, I was excited and curious to see if it would work. Spoilers: it did.

'The Christmas Invasion' was selected along with a handful of other episodes to be turned into a novel by the BBC due to its impact on the shows history, being a) the first episode of Doctor Who to air on December 25th since 1965's 'The Feast of Steven' (episode seven of the twelve part epic 'The Dalek's Masterplan') and b) the first story of the ever popular Tenth incarnation of the titular hero, played by David Tennant. Whilst being written for television by the then, and current show-runner Russell T. Davies, this novel has been written by author Jenny Colgan whom I can say does a wonderful job of capturing the style and feel of the RTD Era of the show.

Whilst the book does bounce around from different POV's, sometimes in the same chapter (though never for too long), it fleshes out quite wonderfully many moments from the episode, whilst still staying loyal to what was transmitted. OK the story is more or less a copy of what was on screen, with a few addition of deleted material, which could be a turn off for some readers; but because I knew the story like the back of my hand, this was no problem really as it really felt like there was a movie (well TV show) playing in my head.

Where the book shines, is with its fleshing out of certain characters and moments from the episode, giving us more to them and to their fates. Most fleshed out was Daniel Llewellyn, head of the Guinevere One Space Mission. A side character in the episode, Colgan allows us inside his head and gives him a nice little romantic storyline that makes one all the more upset when he is killed by the Sycorax Leader. If you're angry at me spoiling this, it aired nearly eighteen years ago and if you haven't seen it; then what the hell are you doing reading the bloody novelization? Go watch it now, and come back later.

With the inclusion of the Children in Need Minisode 'Born Again' at the beginning and epilogue, we get some truly lovely insights into the thoughts of Rose, Mickey and Jackie and how their lives are effected by The Doctor, which is something the show touches on, but due to the forty-five minute runtime; never got more than a brief moment or two. 

A nice little read, that was a breeze to get through (even if you haven't seen the episode for a number of years).