Graphic Novel Review - Planet of the Apes Archive Vol. 1

Name: Planet of the Apes Archive Vol. 1: Terror on the Planet of the Apes

Published by: BOOM! Studios 

Writer: Doug Moench

Artists: Mike Ploog, Frank Chiaramonte, Tom Sutton, Herb Trimpe, Virgil Redondo

Let me start by saying that I am a relatively new Apes fan. Despite watching the original movie as a kid and the reboot as a teenager I was never much invested previously, which might have been due to the fact that I wasn't never really aware of the racial and political issues that this franchise tried to focus upon. But after quite recently rewatching the first movie and following up with watching (for the first time!) the next four I became quite enamoured. 

As I began to gradually delve deeper into the tie-in stuff, I decided to check out the various comics from different publishers. And these archives published by BOOM! Studios seemed a great way to read the older Marvel stuff in an organized way. 

The first volume of this archive series contains an original storyline set in the Planet of the apes depicting an action packed tale of two friends, a human and an ape going through almost limitless obstacles while re-exploring their friendship. Despite losing momentum towards the end and not having a proper ending, 'Terror on the Planet of the Apes' is an action packed journey that manages to combine the epic tone of the planet of the apes with the weirdness inherent to the comics as a medium. 

The story has many interesting and varied characters. Although the protagonist Jason and his friend Alex and the main antagonist Brutus might seem rather one dimensional caricatures; the likes of Gunsmith Julius, Steely Dan, Saraband, Lightsmith and a myriad of interesting villains  steal the show with their uniqueness. 

Doug Moench really knows how to spin a tale to keep his readers guessing what new perils might come next for our heroes and what new fascinating bits of weird and unorthodox locale or creatures we might experience next. And especially during the first half each chapter adds further layers of world-building to keep readers excited to keep on turning the pages. 

The first nine chapters are drawn by Mike Ploog, and his drawing is just something that is a pure joy to experience. The level of detail in his black and white pages kept me engrossed and returning for stuff I might have missed. The last six chapters are also well drawn and eye catching, but lack Ploogs artistic brilliance and pales a bit in comparison. 

Overall, the merits far outweigh the minor lacks in this story and the introduction and ending by the Apes expert 'Rich Handley' also add a sense of perspective to this historic piece of work. 

This gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me. 

New Book Review - Wastelanders: Star-Lord by Sarah Cawkwell

Name - Wastelanders: Star-Lord

Series - Marvel’s Wastelanders 

Written by - Sarah Cawkwell

Adapted from - The scripted podcast by Benjamin Percy

Published by - Aconyte Books 

First things first, I got this book from NetGalley, so thank you NetGalley and Aconyte Books for this opportunity.

I wanna start with a little confession, I initially requested the ARC for this one due to interest in the Wastelands setting but totally forgot about it. I only remembered the book after watching 'Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3' and starting to miss Quill, Rocket and the gang. I am quite glad that I did start reading it, as I loved the book and finished it in only a few days despite my busy work schedule. 

The book is set in an alternate universe where things have taken a very bad turn for both the Guardians and planet earth some 30 years into the future. The much older duo of Star-Lord and Rocket returns to earth to complete a job for the Collector, but things are not as it used to be on the planet which they realise in a matter of moments after their crash landing. Soon, the duo with their robot companion Cora gets embroiled in an adventure that will introduce the readers to a very different western influenced post-apocalyptic Marvel universe. 

Quill and Rocket are the main stars as to be expected, and their banter will keep the readers chuckling despite being very emotional at times. Quill behaves just as optimistic as always and keeps on jumping into no win situations headlong. Rocket Raccoon is also on character, acting all gruff with a much softer interior. Another character that steals the show at times is Cora with her dialogues and mannerisms. The character of Red Crotter is also really well fleshed out. 

As this is based on a podcast, the dialogue is the main driving force rather than action most of the time. And the dialogue is very skillfully written, one can get so engrossed in the oftentimes humorous banter it could really drain time. The chemistry between Quill and Rocket has always been one of the main reasons why I love the Guardians movies, so I rather enjoyed their banter. 

The ending could have been a bit more action oriented if you asked me, but you have to consider the original source material. It has to be said, all through the book there is not a single boring page and this is mostly due to the excellent characters and the dialogues. This is a definite recommendation for any fan of superheroes or post-apocalyptic fiction. 

I will give this 4 out of 5 stars. 

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About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2023 MARVEL

Graphic Novel Review - Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 2

Name: Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 2

Published by: Dark Horse Comics

Writer: Haden Blackman, Welles Hartley 

Artists: The Fillbach Brothers, Welles Hartley 

Colorist: Wil Glass, Sno Cone Studios

Letterer: Michael David Thomas 

The second volume continues with the style established by the animated series and the first volume, focusing on specific characters in separate events of the ongoing war. 

'Skywalker' is the first story featuring Obi-Wan telling Luke a tell of the heroics of his father during the height of the clone wars. Anakin does some pretty cool force hijinks and it as a cool ending foreshadowing the future. 

'Hide in plain sight' follows the duo of Luminara and Bariss, as the attempt to stop an invading force of General Grievous's army while also trying to save the civilians. There are some interesting messages and a short little cameo by Grievous. 

The third story is 'Run Mace run', which is a story of the one and only Mace Windu and has another cameo, this time featuring Count Dooku. Windu's drop ship gets destroyed, and he is the only survivor and has to fight through an army of droids to destroy a powerful weapon. Nice little story with an interesting concept. 

This one might be slightly better than the first volume but gets 4 out of 5 stars from me like the first one. 

Graphic Novel Review - X-Men The Animated Series: The Further Adventures

Name: X-Men The Animated Series - The Further Adventures 

Published by: Marvel comics

Writters: Ralph Macchio, Nel Yomtov, Kelly Corvese, Robert Loren Fleming, Mike Pellowski, Joey Cavalieri, Mike Marts

Artists: Yancey Labat, Ben Herrera, Mike S. Miller, Andy Kuhn, Derec Aucoin, Alex Saviuk, Don Heck, Artie Ruiz etc. 

X-Men The Animated Series is definitely one of the best animated shows ever based on Marvel characters. So my expectations were quite high when I decided to check this omnibus which was supposedly a continuation of the story of the characters from the show. 

While there were definitely some high points in this collection, the varied nature of the stories seems to hold back some of the fun of this one. The drawing also seemed a bit too unorthodox and out of place at times. 

Some of the writing was quite good, specially stuff by Ralph Macchio. The Magneto and Apocalypse issues, the Cyclops centric issue, the Jubilee vs. Sabretooth issue, the guest appearance of Hulk etc. were some of the best issues and the ending also does an interesting thing trying to connect it to the Marvel-616 continuity. 

While this won't fill the whole left by the X-Men TAS on the fans, this collection is definitely worth the time and a great motivator for rewatching the show while we eagerly wait for X-Men '97.

This gets 3.5 out of 5 stars from me. 

Video Game Music Review - Street Fighter Compilation “RE:”MIX Chiptune

Album Name - Street Fighter Compilation “RE:”MIX Chiptune

Catalog Number - CPCA-10346

Released On - Oct 01, 2014

Composed By - Yoko Shimomura (01~10, 12), Isao Abe (11)

Arranged By - sasakure.UK, DJ'TEKINA//SOMETHING, Hige Driver, michitomo, Professor Sakamoto, HyperJuice, baker, arai tasuku, PellyColo, Carpainter, Aureole, K's

Published By - SULEPUTER

While I have been a fan of fighting games by SNK for most of my gaming life, I simply cannot deny the influence the music/soundtrack from Street Fighter 2 had on the enthusiasts of fighting games all over the world. And to hear the beloved music for the classic characters and stages with the new remix was a blast from the past I didn't know I needed in my life and enjoyed quite thoroughly. 

The album begins with the track for 'Chun-Li' and immediately grabs attention with its strong melody and continues through its almost flawless first 8 tracks. Things do lose a bit of focus on the last 4 tracks for the boss characters, but by then you already feel like starting from the beginning or returning to your favourite character tune. 

The incorporation of the vocal samples adds yet another dimension to the experience and makes any fan of fighting games nostalgic, wanting to once again start playing the game that started it all. This really was a fun and nostalgic experience for me.

So, overall score - 9 out of 10.

You can get the album at (among other sites) -

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/CPCA-10346

Graphic Novel Review - Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 1

Name: Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 1

Published by: Dark Horse Comics

Writer: Haden Blackman

Artists: Ben Caldwell, The Fillbach Brothers

Colorist: Ben Caldwell, Sno Cone Studios, Ltd. 

Letterer: Michael David Thomas 

I started reading this just after watching the Volume One of the 'Clone Wars (2003)' series, maybe that's why I enjoyed reading this quite a lot. The simplistic nature of storytelling in short form with drawings similar to the show and enjoyable dialogue make this a fun read for any Star Wars fan. 

The first story is 'Blind Force' which features Obi-Wan and Anakin on the planet Nivek on a special mission. The story has enjoyable banter between the master and padawan duo, an interesting new species of alien enemies and some unique action sequences. 

The second story titled 'Heavy Metal Jedi' has Mace Windu and Saesee Tiin battling against the droid army in Iktotch. Both tries to establish the superiority of their own fighting style which creates an interesting scenario. 

'Fierce Currents' is the third story which despite featuring Kit Fisto is rather weaker compared to the other two. It tells of Fisto's encounter with an unorthodox enemy, but the ending was a bit too philosophical for my taste. 

This was a fun little graphic novel and gets 4 out of 5 stars from me for its nostalgic style. 

New Book Review - Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Name - Phoenix Extravagant 

Written by - Yoon Ha Lee

Published by - Rebellion Publishing Ltd. / Solaris Books

First things first, I got this book from NetGalley, so thank you NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing Ltd. / Solaris Books for this opportunity.

This was not my first exposure of Yoon Ha Lee, I had previously read one short story by the author which made me interested in longer fiction and led me to request this in NetGalley. 

This book had a very interesting setting clearly inspired by the Japanese occupation of Korea, which really was used in a thoughtful and charismatic way. The anti-colonial sentiment was expressed in a rather unorthodox way using fantasy. The magic system was also quite unique and brilliantly depicted and kept me going through the pages to find out how it worked as a whole. 

Another great thing was the beautiful mechanical dragon Arazi on the cover, which was once again detailed with finesse and was the main star of the book despite appearing after one third of the book. The main character Jebi also brought their unique sense of worldview and his quest to do the right thing. Some of the other characters were also quite interesting despite their minor roles. 

But the main problem was the use of pronouns were a bit confusing especially when the author used they/them for only Jebi when the scene included multiple persons. It often distracted from this otherwise engrossing book. 

I will give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.