Watchmen Review From Emperor Marcus
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Some might "Watchmen," written by comics god Alan Moore, a bible in the field of graphic novels.  These people, myself included are absolutely right.  This book has it all: politicial satire, classic science fiction themes, and a thought provoking message.  "Watchmen" is a book that really makes you think and after just a few pages, you're completely sucked in.  I should know, I was the same way.  Please do yourself a favor and pick up "Watchmen" today.
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Originally Reviewed At:Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 4 out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: NetGalley
Reviewer: Me

Let me go ahead and confess that I read the entire graphic novel in my best Captain Jean-Luc Picard voice. I love that man  well Patrick Stewart  and I couldn't help but get a little excited when I was offered this for review. Its so worth it, for any Star Trek or Doctor Who fan. It gives the readers exactly what they want, a science fiction mash-up of epic proportions.

We are immediately thrust into the story with Picard and the Doctor discussing the Borg. Both men are on either side of the fence with the situation. And through a flashback to one of my favorite Star Trek episodes told by none other than Guinan (aka Whoopi Goldberg), the Doctor is informed as to why our brave Captain doesnt trust the Borg and would never form an alliance. However, once they dig deeper and realize the Cybermen are attempting to convert the Borg and use all of their resources to take over the universe, the threat against the world becomes too great even for Picard to ignore.

The best thing about Assimilation 2 Volume 2 is the characters. The illustrator aimed to make each character resemble their television selves, and I think it works in its favor. You cant help but feel nostalgic or geek out when gazing upon the faces of Data, Worf, Geordi La Forge, or Matt Smith as the Doctor. Knowing you are heading into battle with your favorite characters, adds to the overall enjoyment of the story. The only downside is unfortunately you don't get the conclusion to the story in this compilation. *sad face* You must wait until the next installment to see if their efforts work or if it was all for nothing.

Overall, Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who: Assimilation 2 Volume 2 is a must-read for any fan of either series. Its engaging, highly entertaining, and will leave you wanting more long after you reach the end of page 72. I highly recommend geeking out to it!
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I know that a lot has, and can be said, about Alan Moore's fantastic Watchmen book.  While this is not a defenitive take on the book, this is far superior.  This is a collection of essays that help to not just flesh out what may have been missed on initial readings of Moore's work, but several of the more subtle themes in Watchmen are explore fresh and in often fun ways.  For any Alan Moore or Watchmen fan!
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Anthony Everitt tells the amazing story of the young Gaius Octavius, who grows up to become the man we know as Emperor Augustus. Everitt gives the treatment of Augustus' life the same way he treated the orator Cicero's. Everitt has an easy to follow narrative that guides the reader from the chaotic early life to the stable rule as the first Emperor of Rome, or what Augustus called his new regime: the Principate.

Born during Cicero's consulship, the young boy grows up in the period of political instability that would result in civil war. His granduncle, Julius Caesar, would be one of the primary actors and winner of the first round. The young boy's life is changed forever when the Dictator is assassinated and he is named Caesar's heir. As Caesar's adopted son, he has Caesar's name as his (only) weapon. It turns out to be a really good weapon as he is able to raise an army and challenge the famous general Mark Antony for control of Rome. Everitt tells the story of them ultimately teaming up and combining their forces to defeat Caesar's assassins, Brutus and Cassius, at the battle of Philippi ending all hope of a restored Republic.

"When they disagreed, it was always Octavian who got his way. When he wanted something, he tended to pursue it with single-minded intensity, whereas Antony, seeing himself as the senior partner in government, had the careless self-confidence to give way." (p. 133)

The Second Triumvirate is unstable and it is not long until civil war resumes and the future Augustus and his number one man Agrippa defeat the forces of Antony and Queen Cleopatra at Actium. Antony and the Queen decide to commit suicide than fall into the hands of the merciless young Caesar.

From there on the story is about Augustus' long reign as emperor. Everitt explains the various settlements that were made that let Augustus build up so much power that eventually would create a new indispensable position in Rome. He would redesign the city, and that new design would allow him to gloat that he found Rome made of brick and left it made of marble.

On a slight side note there is one odd difference between Everitt's work on Augustus and his biography on Cicero. The difference is in capitalization. In the previous work, Everitt chose to capitalize titles--which I prefer--and now he does not. I have noticed a change in trend when in grammar when it comes to titles. As a reader of many books it is easy to see the change and I do not like it. I do not know who is leading the charge but I wish they would stop. I much prefer to see Emperor Tiberius of the Roman Empire than emperor Tiberius of the Roman empire--heck even my grammar check thinks this is wrong. The former looks elegant and clean, the later looks like a pile of written horse crap. I am going to be reading another book by Everitt and I hope he returns to his old habits as opposed to his new ones. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book it is a great and exciting read.
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With a story by the fabulous Mark Waid and incredible art by painter Alex Ross, "Kingdom Come" spins a version of the Book of Revelations as a war between metahumans. Set years in the future from today, Superman has become an exile of humanity. Batman no longer defends Gotham City himself; he uses an army of robots. Captain Marvel, Shazam, has disappeared. Green Lantern has built a huge city over the Earth, with a purpose akin to that of the Justice League's Watchtower. Wonder Woman still wanders the Earth, one of the only heroes aware of a war brewing between metahumans. Norman McCay is a priest, the P.O.V. of the story, and he is shielded to be invisible by the Spectre, who takes him on a journey to watch the war unfold. With breathtaking art and an entertaining story, Waid and Ross truly deliver with this incredible graphic novel.
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My husband is one of those lucky comic book nerds who found a fellow comic book nerd to marry. Long before I met my hubby, I was turned on to Watchmen a couple years after its release when I was about ten or so. It was easily the smartest piece of literature I touched until high school, by which time I'd read Watchmen twenty times. I've been trying to amass a collection of comics and graphic novels--or any literature for that matter--which sets out to deconstruct the genre, and I've sadly concluded over the years that all of these works generally do little more than expound on Moore's original work, AT BEST. I think that the Incredibles must have done more to introduce comic-deconstruction themes to a mass audience than most comics since Watchmen.

AT LAST, we have another work to look deep into the meaning of comics and the idea of metacomic writing in Mr. King's work. For the first time since my read of Watchmen all those years ago, I find myself reading this title, now for the second time since I got it yesterday and blew through it in one night. I'm happily finding new insight in both the storyline and the greater themes that King must have considered at length before he wrote word one of this novel.

And, not for nothing, it is an exciting read, with well thought out and believable characters, particularly with regards to one of the characters (Soldier). I judge most of what I read in any fiction by my ability to believe in the motives of the main characters, which accounts heavily for my high rating.

Happy reading!
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Marvel have been , Publishing Handsome bound "Coffee Table Books ,, Guardians of The Galaxy : The Art Of the Film , it is not up to
the standard , Of " Marvels previous high standards . I gave four stars , for the high quality in the bounding and the quality of the colour plates of art work , and pre-visuals for the finished . I am not saying it is not insightful in the work that went into the film , and all
the countless people , That what thes ' Publications ,  they pay homage to the Artist world wide ..
Thank You :
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Any book by Watchman Nee is worth a read. He truly was a man who loved God.
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Story: Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks was sent on a mission with a bunch of Wayland-Yultani synthetics. She was just supposed to type in a key to the computer giving over the rights from the abandoned ship over to WY as salvage. What happens next Zula doesnt remember she was knocked unconscious and when she woke up she was still on board with a handful of the synths remaining. One of the synths in particular is helping her with the designation Davis 01.
Davis tells her what happened something was brought on board and it killed the whole crew and when they boarded the strange aliens started to kill the synths. Davis managed to shoot them all out the airlock along with most of the other synths. Davis further tells her that WY has plans to bring back a specimen so they can weaponize it. Zula understanding what she is hearing also picks up on the fact that Davis has gone against his programming. Davis admits it and again surprised her by saying he has evolved into something better he has taught himself new things and to let WY get its hands on something as dangerous as these creatures would be horrible. After barely surviving the first time Zula agrees with Davis and together they begin to thwart WY at every turn.
The Aliens are not the only thing Zula is battling right now she has massive spinal damage due to a previous and only mission. Zula is dealing emotionally, psychologically, and physically with the damage and pain shes going through. Davis and Zula become friends they even pick up a sole survivor at a filling station and continue to do what they think is right but Davis has secrets of his own.

Art: The art was my favorite thing about this but its not surprising when you have fantastic artist like Tristan Jones and Massimo Carnevale. The illustrations were just so beautifully detailed and dark, its dark and gloomy in that typical Alien style but not so dark you lose the fine details. Massimos work on the covers and the chapter breaks is stunning, there is one that I would love to have a print of to hang on my wall.

Overall: I love the Alien franchise, I have loved it since my sister first showed me Alien as a kid in the late 80s. (Yeah, my mom wouldnt let me watch horror movies like Halloween or Friday the 13th but she was ok with Alien) I haven't read as many Alien comics as I would like, aside from Sandman they were one of the first ones I did read when I first got into comics. I think Zula is a perfect fit with the typical type heroine we normally see in these roles. I think I like her even more because she is so broken. I loved the tie in with Alien: Isolation and Amanda Ripley. The story is great its so much more than just fighting aliens, theres great character development and the relationship between Davis and Zula, I like where its going. This was a great one I really look forward to the rest of the series.
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Jupiter Ascending is a kind of a comic book adventure. The film is visually stunning and takes the viewer on an adventure, away from the ordinary. Both of the main characters are very likable and the villains are, well, villains. It is a bit like Flash Gordon with elements of the Wizard of Oz and some tributes to the Wachowski's "Matrix". The bad ruler of the universe is reminiscent of Emperor Ming from Flash Gordon, and Channing Tatum fulfills the Flash Gordon image. Mila Kunis does well with her transition from ordinary cleaning lady to queen of the universe. Overall, the movie is fun to watch, the cinematography is exceptional, and the story is interesting. I'm not a big fan of extended action sequences and there are a few here during the battles and some of the characters tend to be caracatures. Jupiter Ascending is an entertaining 2 hours, but don't expect deep thoughts, just an adventure.
For me, the added enjoyment was seeing my home town of Chicago displayed so beautifully on the screen. I had been wanting to see Jupiter Ascending ever since I saw the film crew in my neighborhood. The Wachowskis live in Chicago and their love of the city is always evident in any of the scenes filmed here.
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This is an amazing upgrade to just the standard edition of watchmen. With all the extended and extra scenes allow for a more detailed story. This edition even includes the black freighter cartoon comic inlaid in to the movie which everyone who knows watchmen, knows it's an awesome addition. If you love watchmen or know someone who does I suggest getting this that reason. It may be a long movie now with the extra hour of footage but it's worth every minute. Zack Snyder did an amazing job filming this movie and adding the special features disk with behind the scenes and interviews. Over all I believe this purchase was definatly worth it!
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I really like this aspect of the MIH series. Reminds me of an up-to-date (modern) Call of Cthulu meets Men In Black, of which only John Ringo could have made it work. Am I John Ringo biased? Heck yes! Larry Correia brings some artistry as well; the collaboration with Ringo was likely a necessary contract thing by the editor, to allow Ringo into the MIH universe; or it was a Ringo mandate as he, like Tom Clancy, sponsored authors once he became really famous and did not have the personal time to write as he split his efforts across several domains (print literature, video game development, movie consulting, etc.)...which reminds me (going to start a theory/conspiracy of my own with this statement): is Ringo consulting on movies? Please, please, please confirm "Tide Rising" or "Kildar" or "Citadel/Troy Rising" or "Empire of Man" or "Into the Looking Glass"; any of which Sci-Fi Channel could produce with the advances in CGI. The wealth of material spewing out of Ringo's head could keep directors and producers in business for 20 years.
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I was expecting something dark like Watchmen but got a quieter, lovelier story instead. It's 600 pages and I was done in three hours flat, that's how engrossing it was. 10/10 would recommend.
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ComicWorm Speaks!

Defenders of Ultramar by Graham McNeill

****

The Story: Discover one of the fiercest fighting Chapter in the Universe: The Ultramarines 4th Company. Sergeant Learchus must take twenty-five new recruited Battle Brothers on their first engagement, as they embark on an investigation of the lost patrol ship Guillimans Honor. What was a routine mission becomes much more when 4th Company, encounters one of the Imperiums deadliest enemies!

The Good: Its the freakin Ultramarines! We get to see the Adeptus Astartes in full-color action. What more could one ask for? To actually see visual representations of Marneus Calgar, Sergeant Learchus, Judd Clausel, and an Ork Gargant is a real treat for any fan of Warhammer 40K.

The artwork is superbly crafted, with a keen but not overwhelming attention to detail. When reading, one can feel the action and the gunfire and the zeal of the Ultramarines when battling the fearsome Orks! The Orks are a very fun villain in the Warhammer 40k Universe, with their fairly cartoonish appearance and their ramshackle technology. There is no clash of ideals, no chaos, just a no-holds barred, shoot-em up adventure, with all the bullets and explosions anyone could want.

While there are definitely some serious moments, the whole story is a ton of fun and pretty straightforward, and thats okay. Not every story needs subtlety. Its okay to just have fun.

Blood and Guts are practically a hallmark of Warhammer 40k, but this time around it does not go all out, save for one scene with corpses chained to the front of an Ork war machine. This is a wise choice by the creative forces behind this work as going all out could turn off newcomers to the franchise.

The story also provides the reader with small amounts of background information, such as Space Marine terminology, which really helps put what is happening during action sequences, such as the differences between devastator and terminator squadrons.

What makes this story so good in the end is not just the action but the characters. Learchus demonstrates great wisdom as a leader and demonstrates the concern for the common man that is always so touching to see from the Astartes. This is Learchus story and to see him grow into a Captain from beginning to the ending is a great story.

The Flaws: The first major flaw about this graphic novel is when and where it takes place. The story directly references events that take place in the Ultramarines novel series also by Graham McNeill, those events being Captain Uriel Ventris and Pasanius Lysanes violation of the Codex Astartes and subsequent exile to the Eye of Terror. ComicWorm knows about these events but the common reader might not, so it makes the setup of the story a little confusing.

Another problem with the formatting is a common problem that comic series have: the use of different artists for different chapters, no pun intended. While they thankfully keep the character appearances and overall aesthetic consistent, it is a little jarring to see the art take a different direction with every new phase of the story.

Another problem with consistency is the portrayal of 4th Company Chaplain Judd Clausel. While physically, he looks pretty much the same in every chapter, the artists at times, overlook a key detail. In Warhammer 40K, it is a known fact that Chaplains of the Adeptus Astartes wear black armor and in some chapters Clausel is portrayed as wearing blue armor with little to separate him from other Ultramarines. It is not that big a deal but it is one of those things that can irk a member of the fan base and irks can add up. Its important to get details right.

Sometimes the characters can come off a little flat at times but that kind of exploration is not really needed in an action story such as this.

Final Verdict: Defenders of Ultramar is a terrific comic and definitely a worthy addition to anyones personal Black Library. ComicWorm hopes Learchus gets a novel of his own someday.

Four out Five Stars

thecultureworm.blogspot.com
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Absolutely Brilliant look at the private and stage side of the Ant Man himself and his friends !!! Loved it !!! Need More :)
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What a lot of people don't grasp is that even if Alan Moore had never written WATCHMEN, he would still be among the greatest names in comic book history. I have to confess that I sometimes perceive him as being a bit too self-indulgent, such as all of the books in LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN after the first two volumes (as brilliant as the first two volumes were, that is how needless the subsequent volumes have been), but despite that his output has been stunning in its variety and quality. The number of extremely good series is breathtaking, from early work such as V FOR VENDETTA, SUPREME, SWAMP THING (in which he both reinvigorated the old series and invented the character of John Constantine), and THE KILLING JOKE (perhaps the best Batman story ever written; definitely the greatest Joker story ever written, though the brilliance of the story is equally owning to Brian Bolland's almost impossibly great artwork) to later work such as his retelling of the Jack the Ripper story in FROM HELL, the first two volumes of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, a stint in the Wildstorm title WildC.A.T.s, the retro series TOM STRONG, and PROMETHEA. All of these are vulnerable to the self-indulfence I mentioned above, but generally he remains a fascinating and incredibly inventive (or reinventive) writer.

One of his most fascinating post-WATCHMEN series was what I think of as his police department trilogy, consisting of TOP TEN (originally published in two volumes, reprinted here in a single volume at a bargain price), THE FORTY-NINERS (also set in Neopolis and illustrated by Gene Ha, and featuring many characters who either appeared or were mentioned in TOP TEN), and the Andrew Currie-illustrated spin-off SMAX, in which Jeff Smax and his partner Robin "Toybox" Slinger visit his homeworld to take care of some family matters. I'm not a fan of the latter. The charm of the former was marrying a police procedural with superhero and super-powered officers (along with a desk sargent  who is a talking Doberman who wears human prosthetic legs. SMAX lacks the delightful chaos that results from the mash up of forms. It is a bit of fun seeing the big bad Jeff Smax (who in TOP TEN is more than willing and apparently capable of tangling with Godzilla in a fist fight) berated by his even bigger and badder twin sister, but that entire relationship is more icky and offputting than fun.

If you are a fan  of any of Alan Moore's books, you should definitely explore TOP 10, and if you enjoy it, you should also look into THE FORTY NINERS. SMAX is more buy at your own risk. You might like it more than I do, but you might also really hate it. But TOP 10 is without question a delight.
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Divinity. It's a decent origin tale. The character is super intriguing, but we only get a glimpse. Will he traverse into Shadowman /Mirage territory? He does talk to dead people (or does he). What of the other two cosmonauts? The 3 soldiers and the climber? The Russian scientist? I liked it. A bit choppy when Unity became involved. Also, the narration kept flipping between characters without notice. Some color difference would have helped.

Highlights :
Tons of new characters.
Stunning use of color on the page to enhance the story.
Loved the fact that the choppy pencils were retained in the inks.
More questions than answers for something that will undoubtedly change the Valiant universe.