Aquaman: Unspoken Water and Amnesty

 I used to buy the Aquaman comic. I'm not going to lie, I was buying it mainly for Mera, because she's awesome.  But I got bored with where the story was going (especially after the long and drawn out stuff when Arthur was crowned king and later presumed dead when King Rath takes over).  That was followed by the story arc of Unspoken Water, which was the last arc I bought.  But then I found it and the next arc, Amnesty, at the library, so took them both out to see what had happened since I'd given up on the comic.  (I also took Unspoken Water out because I couldn't remember if I'd read the entire thing - it turned out I had).

Unspoken Water starts with Aquaman on a mysterious island with no memory of who he is and how he got there (other than I guess presuming he was on a boat that was wrecked at sea).  He's also terrified of the ocean.  He and the odd inhabitants of the island help each other out, but the ocean seems to have turned its back on them, sending them only dead fish, slowly starving them.  And so in desperation, the inhabitants ask Andy, their name for Aquaman, for help.  They are forgotten gods and goddesses of the ocean, and had banished one of their number, who they believed to be killing the waters around them.  They ask Andy to bring the banished one's daughter with him, hoping to appease the banished one with a reunion.  

I remember this story line to be confusing; it was a bit easier to read the second time around.  But it's honestly pretty weird (and only has a little bit of Mera in it, so sad).  But I'm glad I reread it, as Amnesty takes place pretty much right where Unspoken Water ends, with the gods and goddesses fulfilling their promise and helping Andy get his memories back.

This was pretty weird too.  But basically, Aquaman died and this ocean spirit sent him back to help the gods and goddesses.  The spirit freely offers Aquaman some of his memories, but cautions him not to look for others as he may not like what he finds.  Of course he wants to know more, specifically about Mera, and he finds out she was the one who killed him...

...Now, it's been a little bit since I read the comics....but I thought Arthur Curry was presumed dead after Drowned Earth?  Maybe I'm remembering it wrong?  I don't know.

While this took some odd turns, it was enjoyable enough to read.  After regaining his memories, Arthur brings his new god and goddess friends back with him to Amnesty Bay. Queen Mera gets pressured to marry, so she chooses the most unlikely candidate, and uses her wedding plans to achieve her aims of rebuilding the Ninth Tride. There was also some craziness at the end with a sort of almost Lovecraftian-sea monster.  So while crazy, it was interesting enough that I'm willing to read the next graphic novel when I eventually get my hands on it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid

I played through Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid a few weeks ago.  I'm not a big fighting game fan, but I loved the story! It opens with an alternate universe Tommy Oliver (aka Lord Drakkon) having stayed with Rita Repulsa.  But he decides that she's holding him back, so he kills her and takes over; he then starts hunting through the Power Ranger multiverse for different sets of rangers to steal their morphers.  Well, when I was telling a friend about it, he mentioned that the game was probably adapted from the Shattered Grid storyline from the comics.  So I snagged a copy of it from Amazon, along with Beyond the Grid.

While the basic story-line remained the same, reading Shattered Grid after playing through Battle for the Grid was an interesting experience. For one thing, I felt like I was dropped in part way through the story; the Power Rangers had already fought and beaten Lord Drakkon once; along with the Ranger Slayer (Lord Drakkon's universe's Kimberley, who was brainwashed - she was freed from his control in the game as you play, but in the comics prior to Shattered Grid).  

I also found that the big emotional moments kind of lost their oomph in the graphic novel.  I'm not entirely sure why that was - maybe because the game had voice over, so it was a totally different experience from reading the graphic novel, or maybe because I already knew they were coming.  Either way, I personally felt like some of the story was lost the second time through.

But in other ways, the graphic novel was a good read.  Some of the stuff at the end made a lot more sense than it did in the game (I honestly felt like this world's Tommy Oliver coming back from the dead was just thanks to *magic* in the game). And I felt like I got to know some of the other Rangers who were part of the story (I only really watched the original show, so in the game I had no idea who pretty much any of the Rangers were).  Also, Lord Drakkon actually wins for a bit. I didn't see that coming at all!

So while it was a different experience, I did still enjoy reading Shattered Grid. I'm looking forward to Beyond the Grid (and I'm going to have to figure out which graphic novel(s) introduce Lord Drakkon and the Ranger Slayer so I can see what exactly happened there, too!)

The War of the Realms

Back when I was reading the comic series about Jane Foster as the Mighty Thor, the War of the Realms was coming to Midgard....veeeery slowly.  I thought the war would happen during that series, but it didn't (or more accurately, it started, but was raging across other realms).  But that series ended, and though I attempted a few issues of the next series, with Thor Odinson once again the Mighty Thor, I quickly lost interest and forgot about the whole thing (although I did end up reading the aftermath when a friend lent me Jane Foster: Valkyrie). But then a different friend brought The War of the Realms to me at work a few weeks ago; I finally gave it a read today.

The War of the Realms is that story of the war finally getting to Midgard.  Earth's mightiest heroes (who are all but gods themselves but in name) join forces with the gods from the other realms that have already been ravaged by Malekith.But Midgard will fall unless Thor can find a way to answer Malekith's challenge once and for all!

 The War of the Realms is really crazy and fun.  Asgardians join forces with the various defenders on Earth, pooling together their strength and ingenuity to fight off Malekith and his allies (giving you things like blind Daredevil operating the Bifrost after Heimdall was himself blinded, or Odin in an Ironman suit!).  I'm glad I finally read this story ark because I really enjoyed it! :)

The Little World of Liz Climo

A friend of mine got The Little World of Liz Climo for me for Christmas.  It's been sitting on one of my shelves since then.  But after finishing The Book of Better, I grabbed it and finally read through it (which honestly took less than an hour).

Liz Climo's art is adorable.  The book is made up of little one or two panel comics featuring her cute animals in all sorts of situations and misunderstandings.  This is the type of book that will brighten your day.  I definitely recommend it.  :)

The Walking Dead Issues 37-105

A friend of mine lent me The Walking Dead issues 37-105 (plus the Michonne special).  He found out I was reading the graphic novels, but rather than having to wait to get them all from the library, he just brought everything I hadn't read yet.  The library currently has the graphic novels up to #16, which ends with #96, so I'm actually ahead of the library now (and the graphic novels in general - #18 comes out this June and collects issues 103-108).  I ended up reading them all during the last three days.

The story has really taken some crazy turns (warning - spoilers!)  The Governor wasn't killed by Michonne; after he's healed as best as possible, he comes after the survivors living in the prison.  He attacks several times; his last attack is successful because Michonne and Tyreese followed him and Tyreese got caught, plus some people (like Dale, Andrea, Glenn, and Maggie) left.  Without everyone back at the prison, the Rick and company were overrun.  Rick tried to get his family out but Lori was shot and killed, along with the baby girl she had only recently given birth to.  Rick and his son escape.  The Governor was killed by one of his own people (after she discovers she killed a baby).

Rick and Carl make it to some houses, where Rick quickly falls ill.  Carl manages to fend off some zombies and help his father recover.  Once they're back to full strength, they go off and find first Michonne then later the rest of the survivors who had left before the Governor's final attack.  They then meet Abraham, Rosita and Eugene.  Abraham asks them for supplies; he is on a mission to bring Eugene to Washington D.C.  Eugene claims to know what started the zombie outbreak and believes he can cure it.  The survivors tag along.

After some trials and tribulations (Dale is killed by some cannibals, but they caught him when he was going off to die because he was bitten), they arrive at D.C. only to realize Eugene lied.  But they find a group of survivors who have made a community.  Despite some rocky beginnings (the community believes their walls will save them and they are living without really thinking about the dangers outside), Rick and crew are eventually accepted into the community.  They even manage to fight off a zombie herd with few casualties, giving Rick a more optimistic outlook on the future, assuming his son survives (Carl was shot in the head during the herd attack by someone quite accidentally - he reawakens though, but missing a few memories).  They are then approached by another group who wants to open up trade.

Rick is extremely wary at first (with good reason - remember the Governor?) but eventually accepts the new group's invitation.  He then finds out that this new group is being bullied by another group who calls themselves 'The Saviors.'  Vowing to deal with the Saviors, Rick and company encounter them on the road back but kill them.  Then a group attacks the main gate (and end up mostly dead as well).  But the third attack happens in two places; while Andrea successfully deals with the one on their community, Rick and a few people are stopped on the road.  The Saviors' leader, Negan, brutally kills Glenn and tells Rick that they'll be back in one week for half of the community's stuff.

Rick hatches a plan to appear to give in to Negan, but in reality he sends someone to follow them back to their compound for some intel.  He tells very few people so that Negan won't know something is up when he shows up.  Unfortunately he doesn't tell his son, who stows away in Negan's van and tries to kill him.

So that's pretty much where the story left off.  Every time I think I'm losing interest in it, something happens to change my mind.  As I've been saying all along, it's a brutal story, but it's also really good.

Oh yeah, the Michonne special.  That one was just okay.  It starts off giving some background into how she started on her path.  But when she gets to the prison, it just reuses the same stuff I'd already read back in Volume 4.  So overall it really wasn't worth the read.

Interlude: Heart of Hush

I was telling a friend how much I enjoyed Batman: Hush, so today he lent me the five part comic series Heart of Hush (Batman Detective Comics #846-850). Heart of Hush is the return of Hush, with another plan to destroy Batman. This time, he has enlisted the help of the Scarecrow to distract Batman's attention while Hush strikes from the shadows.

And what a strike! While Batman is off dealing with the Scarecrow, Hush attacks Catwoman. He kidnaps after catching her completely off guard, and steals her heart - literally! With the help of Mr. Freeze, Hush removes her heart from her chest, delivering her to Gotham General while he has her heart in his hospital! (The scene directly after this had Batman beating up the Scarecrow in Arkham, demanding to know where Hush is; the Joker is sitting nearby, enjoy the show. He remarks at one point that watching Batman work is like Christmas! I thought it was hilarious!)

This story reveals Hush's reasoning for going after Batman. His reasoning is quite flawed, not really making sense, but I guess that's the point: Hush is kind of insane (what Batman villian isn't?) I really liked how Batman managed to get a few steps ahead of Hush, such as when he stormed Hush's hideout, or at the end. And Catwoman's revenge at the end was a nice little "so there." All in all, this was a great story, and I'm really glad my friend lent it to me. Definitely worth the read (after the two part Hush graphic novels, of course!)

Oh, and as a fyi, the picture I chose is of Batman Detective Comics #450 (the final part). I felt it best captured the story as a whole (and I really liked the picture!)