The Vision - Volume 1 - Little worse than a man (Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta)

This is was my second attempt reading this graphic novel as i tried reading it a year ago but abandoned it after a few pages in. I found it really dull and extremely dark.

Also I felt I needed to have a dictionary and thesaurus by my side whilst reading it as the android dialogue is littered with long complex words which I guess I kind of feel I should expected as the graphic novel is based around a family of androids.

But I thought I would give it ago again as I saw it at my local library. This time I was determined to get to the end of the graphic novel not matter what. And I did finish it but it was a hard slog.

The story is based around Vision and his andriod family which he unconventionally created as he felt he was missing something.

The story starts when the family has been living im their new neighbours for awhile, so you don't really get an understanding how he created them but you get the impression that quite a few people in the Marvel universe, including some members of the Avengers aren't happy about his decisions.

He appears to have created his own perfect family who appear to be living a perfect life. A wife (Virgina) and two teenage twins (Vin and Viv) who attend the local high school. Virgina appears to be the perfect house wife.

But I soon realised that Vision's family isn't as perfect as they seem in fact some of the family will do almost anything to keep up the presence of being a perfect family and the graphic novel takes a sinister turn that I wasn't expected or prepared for.

Even though I struggled reading this graphic novel - I would definitely read the second volume as I'm intrigued how far a spiralling and desperate Vision would go to keep his family together.

Vision and his family

Archie Volumes 1-4 (Mark Waid, Fiona Staples, Veronica Fish, Josh Eisma and Pete Woods)

For quite a few years I had been intrigued by Archie comics and the fact the comics have been still going strong after 77 years and counting. The comics and its characters often referenced in American teen tv series' and films. I wanted to know what the hype was.

I heard in 2015 that they were rebooting the comic book series and after watching Netflix's Riverdale tv series and finding myself hooked it on it that I needed to read the rebooted graphic novels. I also wanted to find out about the legendary "love triangle" between Archie, Veronica and Betty.

I read the first volume in two days and eagerly started the second after that. Instantly I was invested lives of Archie Andrews and his friends. I like that even though the comic/graphic novel series is called Archie Andrew's Mark Waid makes all the characters stand out and manages to give their personalities depth.

The graphic novels focus on Archie and his friends & their friendenemies and how the town Riverdale is a close knit town where everyone knows everyone.

Usually when I read a graphic novel or even a book I expect to dislike some of the characters but in Archie Mark Waid manages to make even the "baddies" relatable and flawed such as Mr Lodge, Reggie and the Blossom twins.

I also like how Archie regularly breaks the fourth often to talk to the reader. Often at the start of a new chapter to tell the reader what has happened between the end of the last chapter and the beginning of the next chapter.

I can't wait for the next volume.

An example of Archie breaking the fourth wall

All-new Guardians of the Galaxy - Volume 1 - Communication Breakdown (Gerry Duggan)

I was looking forward to this new 'reboot' of Guardians of the Galaxy, though I wonder why Marvel needs 3 reboots in 3 years. It seems a bit excessive.

Reading this volume I felt I was joining the story when it was half way through. It was like something had happened behind the scenes that the reader wasn't aware of. I'm not too sure if All-New Guaridans of the Galaxy continued on from Brian Michael Bendis' Guardian of the Galaxy New Guard run.

The team seemed fractured and weren't getting on at all, which was quite refreshing.

It was interesting to see them not getting on yet still come together to work on a job. Apparently this job would be their final job before the team separates, which is hard to imagine.

Also I was intrigued why Drax the Destroyer had suddenly become a pacifist, after being known for his years and years of killings. After all you don't get the name Drax the Destroyer for not killing and causing destruction. It was strange to see Drax decline to fight or kill in order to help his team. I hoped we would find out what caused him to become pacifist but we didn't in this volume.

This volume was the first time I had encountered the Collector and the Grandmaster in comic form. Having encountered them both in the Marvel films.

I enjoyed the seeing the Guardians being caught up with the two squabbling Elder brothers who spend the whole volume scheming against each other. I found their banter and one liners to each other refreshing and provided much needed light relief.

The blurb at the back of the book describes the volume as 'A New era of cosmic adventure' and it definitely feels like a new era, as there is a new writer and I feel there also an unusual change in direction for the series. I will definitely give volume 2 a go when it comes out.

Jean Grey - Nightmare fuel - Volume 1 (Dennis Hopeless)

I was quite excited when Marvel were introducing new Marvel titles featuring the original five X-Men who were brought to the future by present Beast a few years ago.

I followed their arrival for quite a few months but then got bored by the storylines and stopped reading X-Men comics.

When I heard original Jean Grey was getting her own comic series - I wasn't jumping at the chance to read it when it came out as comic but thought I would try the graphic novel.

Jean Grey has never been my favourite member of the X-Men, she's not in the top 5. To be honest I find her quite annoying, in the comics, original animated series and films. Also I found at this week that Marvel had cancelled the Jean Grey comic series, so I was reluctant to invest time in a series that has cancelled.

However Jean Grey - Nightmare Fuel surprised me.  Mainly because I found myself liking Jean Grey for the first time. The main plot of the graphic novel is that Jean Grey has a premonition about the Phoenix Force**coming back.

No one seems to believe her that it's coming back so she decides to track down previous Phoneix hosts and Psylocke, Doctor Strange to get some answers.

I enjoyed most of the interactions between young Jean Grey and the Phoneix hosts, however I found the pages where she talked to Namor quite slow and frustrating.

I particularly enjoyed the new infant character they call Pickle who seems to be the same species as Nightcrawler who spends all his time eating so he has the energy to teleport.

Gradually page by page I started to feel sorry for Jean Grey as she has only heard stories of adult Jean Grey and the Phoneix Force, she hasn't lived it like everyone else. Her premonition makes her feel her fate is sealed, however she is going to do her best to avoid it.

**For those who don't know the Phoneix Force is the origin of all psionic energy and the Guardian of Creation. It has the power to cut and regrow any part of the universe or destroy it completely. It has taken host of various X-Men characters over the years, most famously the adult Jean Grey.

Scooby Apocalypse (Keith Giffen) - Volumes 1-2

I was quite excited and intrigued when I heard DC had produced a reimaging of Scooby Doo and the gang.

However immediately when I started reading the first volume I quickly realised the graphic novel wouldn't be same as Hanna Barber's hapless gang of misfits.

I liked how Giffen reimaged the main characters as they appeared to be more fully formed, fleshed out, grown up characters. My favourite reimaged character was Shaggy, who turned from a cowardly, goofy stoner to a tattooed, hipster who resembles a bicycle courier.

However I soon realised the monsters in Scooby Apocalypse weren't fake monsters, but in fact real monsters who want kill all everyone and everything.

I found the level of gore and violence quite off putting, which is something as I am a big fan of Saga and the Walking Dead who botj don't hold back when it comes to violence and gore.

DC have seems to have gone out of their way to adapt a children's classic for an old audience and failed in everyway possible. In fact I abandoned volume 2 before the end because I couldn't cope with the level of violence that progressed with every page. I feel like that it has almost ruined the memory of Scooby Doo for me. I definitely won't be reading any further volumes.

Velma and Shaggy having a deep and meaningful conversation.

Amazon.co.uk link for Scooby Apocalypse Volume 1:
https://tinyurl.com/yam5xo2o

Amazon.co.uk link for Scooby Apocalypse Volume 2:
https://tinyurl.com/ydxztywq

Wet Moon (Sophie Campbell) - Volumes 1-4

I found a new favourite graphic novel series! Literally binge read them in under a week. The Bearded Gentleman is a fan of Sophie Campbell's work and introduced me to the reimaging of Jem and the holograms a few years ago that Sophie illustrates.

The Wet Moon series is character based and the story side of things is definitely a slow burner and progresses slowly through out volumes. After reading finishing volume 4 it's definitely progressing to be a bit of a thriller/mystery.

There are diary, blog and journal entries from various characters which I thought was quite unique. The series is also littered with Easter Eggs relating to Campbell's life and likes, such as Godzilla and the X-Men. It was fun keeping an eye out for them.

Wet Moon is a small town in America and focuses on a group of 17-20 something characters who are connected by friendships or friends of a friend.

It's refreshing as it explores how delicate frienships can be and easily rocked by outsiders. It also explores sexuality, jealously, acceptance and longing to be comfortable in your own skin. I find myself relating to parts of each characters personality and flaws.

The illustrations are black, grey and white which I think works great for the story on a whole. It emphasises the gloom of the town Wet Moon and the angst of the characters.

I love that Campbell draws women in all shapes and sizes - real women. Each female character is not a facsimile of each other body shape with with a different hair styles that you tend to find in some comci/graphic novels. I am fascinated by the attention to detail when it comes to characters hair.

She focuses heavily on very detailed facial expressions to convey emotions of her characters which I love.

I can't wait till volume 5 to come out. I will probably re-real the series in a few days so I can have it in my life again.

Someone is a secret fan of Star Trek: Next Generation

Amazon.co.uk link for Wet Moon Volume 1: http://tinyurl.com/y9kw57om

Amazon.co.uk link for Wet Moon Volume 2:
https://tinyurl.com/y7ynxdbw

Amazon.co.uk link for Wet Moon Volume 3:
https://tinyurl.com/y8t958cg

Amazon.co.uk link for Wet Moon Volume 4:
https://tinyurl.com/ybzhotd7