The Walking Dead

I have never been a big fan of zombie stories. Enter The Walking Dead, an absolutely fantastic ongoing comic book series created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. This is a story of survival in a world overrun by zombies, where despair and panic are daily rituals. The series protagonist, Rick Grimes, is a small town cop from Kentucky who wakes up from a coma to discover that he now inhabits a world plagued by zombies. The Walking Dead is a wonderful character study in which we witness the devolution of man to his most basic and primal self. Stress and despair takes an ugly toll on all of the characters, pushing many past there psychological limits. It becomes clear early on that the remaining humans have as much to fear from each other as they do from the zombies. A gut wrenching and realistic human drama set in a fantastical zombie apocalypse. Who new?

Ex Machina

I recently started reading the comic book series Ex Machina, a Wildstorm publication created by Brian K Vaughan and Tony Harris. This truly original story, set in New York City, details the life of Mayor Mitchell Hundred. Mitchell, who was once know as the Great Machine, the worlds only superhero, now finds himself dealing with the day to day politics of running the worlds greatest and most complex city. Each issue entwines flashbacks of the Great Machines sometimes valiant, but most often misunderstood heroics. It is indeed his last act as the Great Machine; preventing the second plane from hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11 (yes, one of the towers is still standing in this fictional NYC), that leads to his rise to Mayoral office. There is a great mix of Sci-Fi and politics here; The Rocketeer meets Da Vinci's City Hall (Canadian, eh?) with a touch of X-files.

Criminal

I recently completed Volumes 1 and 2 of the ongoing comic book series, Criminal. Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips collaborate perfectly here in this Eisner Award winning crime drama. The series contains four story arcs titled: Coward, Lawless, The Dead and The dying and Bad Night. The Dead and The Dying consists of 3 stand-alone interlocked stories. Criminal is a modern crime noir story where the good guys are bad, and the bad guys are downright cruel. Ed Brubaker, best known for his work on Daredevil and Captain America, creates a wonderfully seedy world of greed and corruption. These character based stories come to life perfectly, thanks to the brilliant penciling of Sean Phillips. You get the feeling that he envisions how the comic would look on film; creating a story board rich with movement, emotion and suspense.


Criminal is published by Marvel Comics' Icon imprint.

The Saddest Words

......Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"

John Greenleaf Whittier