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The Brutal Brilliance of Big Man Plans #3

4/6/2015

 
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I have reviewed Issue 1 and 2 (click the links below to watch them) of Big Man plans and found the work by Eric Powell and Tim Wiesch to be brutal, crazy and over the top. In shorter terms I have loved this series. 

The character of Big Man is brutal but you can understand why to a certain extent. In this issue however things do go a little bit deeper and we find out why he has a grudge with certain people.Suffice to say the encounters he has are explosive in a way that most will not expect.

On a side note I love anatomy it's part of my profession but even I winced at a few of the images contained within this book. So please be aware it is not for the faint hearted.

The story does take place in both the past and present and the flash back scenes tell us a great deal about Big Man's character and what he is prepared to put up with and where he draws the line.

Reviews of Issue 1 and 2

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The Backwards Compatible Random Chat Podcast; Epsiode 8; Forever Carlyle, Lazarus, Vol 1, #TCBTC

2/1/2015

 
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In this episode of the Random Chat we will be focusing on a single character Forever Carlyle. She is the main Character in Greg Rucka and Michael Lark' hit Image series Lazarus.

The TCBTC in the title stands for The Character between the Covers, This is rather a novel name for an ongoing series where I get to discuss some of the characters I find most appealing from our three main genres, Watch, Play and Read. Look out for more articles on the site and future Random Chat shows.

As always thank you for listening and speak to you next week.

Download the Podcast here

If this has intrigued you click the image below for a link to the Image site and further information 

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Paul's Top Four Rick Remender Reads of 2014

29/12/2014

 
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Low

If there is a book in this list that I wish I had spent more time with it's Low. Coming out from Image at a time that was packed full of great books I let it slip in my to read pile after the first issue. With the trade due in early 2015 my plan is to hold fire and then get caught up properly at that time.The reason it still makes the list is the intriguing pre apocalypse storyline mixed with some wonderful art (by Greg Tocchini). 
The underwater setting was extremely well crafted and I am looking forward to doing my toe back in when the trade drops.

Winter Soldier; The Bitter March

I picked this up in trade (it's also on Marvel Unlimited) earlier in the year. It's a classic spy story set in 1966 (sadly it has no football references). The story follows Shields Agent Shen who is tagged with the recovery of two scientists who are attempting to escape to the US. Suffice to say craziness soon ensues and this feels like a James Bondesque romp compete with the infamous Winter Soldier for some added spice to the Goulash. 
Be warned though if you read this series the identity of the Winter Soldier is revealed and will spoil the twist of the second Captain America Film. I know this because this is how I found out.
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Deadly Class

This is probably one of the most personal series out there. At the end of the first issue Remender literally pours his soul in to an essay explaining the background to which the story is set. 
Reading this did give the story an extra level of depth but even without it this is a great series. 
The hook of the series comes from Marcus with his rather traumatic past and his integration in to rather a unique teaching establishment. The real keeper though is the extended cast of students who are seemingly giving this series the legs it needs to be a long running read.

Black Science

Not to spoil too much but this book will be appearing in more than one run down this year. 
There is quite rightly a huge amount of noise being made about Matteo Scalera's art but the art is only one part in my opinion with the charges that Remender has created this series around. The Anarchic League of Scientists are an outstandingly quirky bunch and there inter relationships make for essential reading. Of course the far flung world's are tonnes of fun but this book shows again Remender is a master creator of compelling characters.
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For more of my top lists of 2014 click here
& for the rest of the teams musings click here

Special Recognition Award; Services to the Promotion of Batman.

28/12/2014

 
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In the far flung past of Backwards Compatible we had a little show called Why should I? In this show I would have guests come on and tell me why their favourite pieces of entertainment needed attention. On one of these shows (the video below), Chris and Matt came on to tell me about the greatness that is The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capulo. Now thanks to a sale at Comixology (although I got mine from Amazon on the Kindle store) I have realised my error in judgement by not getting into this series earlier.

For their brave attempt to educate a boring old fart and for being right, I award them this Special Recognition Award; Services to the Promotion of Batman.

The PWR list

1/11/2014

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PWR stands for Play, Watch, Read and if you look above you can see they are our three main sections on the site. Obviously with the wide scope of the site sometimes the things I am enjoying can be lost. 

The reason for these articles is to highlight some of these in order to let you in some of the treasures I have been consuming.

There will be times I point you towards reviews on the site from other writers. I may agree with the assessment but also I may have different views which I will put forward here.

For now though look out for the PWR list
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Why a Ms. Marvel TV show is something that needs to happen.

19/10/2014

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By Paul Fiander
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Cover Artist: Sara Pichelli
Marvel have a host of TV shows in the works but most of these are aimed at a older audience this is balanced with the Disney XD cartons that are able to appeal to the younger watcher (as well as the young at heart). There does however seem an opportunity for a TV show based around Kamala Khan. For those not in the know she is a teenage girl from Brooklyn with a love of all things superheroic and even likes to write fan fiction, she is also Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline their own book. This mix would seemingly make her an appealing character to a teenage market who are beginning to find their own way in the world, her difficulties are exaggerated but ultimately relatable.

Now thanks to Disney’s acquisition of Marvel there is even a perfect channel format for the show to go out on. The Disney channel is well known for its live shows and a teenage superhero should be able to fit in nicely with their programming. Using Kamala this way instead of keeping her for the movies would hopefully give those too young to see the movies something of their own to follow. It would feel like a stronger message if the show is based within the teenager’s life with the adults being the outsiders a reverse of the usual roles within adult focused movies.

From a business standpoint the introduction of a character to an underrepresented teenage market would hopefully widen the appeal of Marvel and open up the opportunity to bring new readers in. At the same time it will also show the diversity of comics and hopefully give the medium a much needed shot in the arm.

Opinions above are my own and may not represent the views of the site as a whole.

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Back Catalogue; A look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9

31/3/2014

 
Even though we always endeavour not to spoil there may be unintentional spoilers for season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 or 8. It may be worth your while looking at our synopsis of the first season or better still grab a visual copy of Buffy on DVD, or through Netflix etc and have some slaying fun of course from this point I will also add from Dark Horse Comics as well.. If you don’t mind learning a little more of the comings and goings centred around Sunnydale high then read on McDuff.

At the culmination of Season 8 some odd things were afoot in the Buffyverse, thanks to the destruction of the “Seed of Wonder” magic has now been removed from the world. As usual though things are not that simple as beings infused with magic still retain their powers. This means while Buffy remains the Slayer, Willow is now completely lacking of power. This change in the world resets what we know and helps Season 9 to remove some of the larger plots that weighed down Season 8. The back to basics principle serves Buffy very well and some of the stories in this run are much more human in tone. This is led by an abortion storyline that really shook up the media and readers alike, Whedon’s lack of fear in diving into an extremely sensitive area is one of the highlights in the lore of Buffy.
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Image courtesy of Dark Horse
Of course Buffy is still able to handle herself when it comes to dispatching the undead, she does however have a new breed of enemy. Namely Zompires, these new breed of vamps are brought about by the removal of magic from the world. They are a new threat to the world, due to their lack of restraint they are a huge threat to the general population as well as the Slayer. It’s great to see a new enemy to face and the way their formation is brought about shows how well the overall plot is crafted. 

Buffy seems to be mostly just trying to survive for the majority of the stories whether that be in battles with the undead or just trying to keep to a semi normal life. With this regard she really needs the help of her friends but due to deaths and falling outs the Scooby Gang is not as large as it once was.  We do get friends new and old within the season, their interactions with Buffy lead us to a new battle which takes up the largest section of the end of the season. That is not before Buffy has to deal with the realities of being a former student as her loan is due. However the collector is not a normal collection agent as he introduces himself with the phrase 
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Buffy Summers, it is time for you to pay....
Much like the previous season this one has multiple arcs and one shot’s that together form the narrative at large. We do get multiple writers throughout the season and all bring their own subtle influences on to the world. This is coupled with more than a few pencillers; the art does feel pretty high throughout the run and some of the covers like the one above by Jo Chen are really something.

The new status quo is set by the end of the season and we can look forward to the continuing Buffyverse growing along these new lines. If we take Season 8 as a bit of a learning curve then this ninth season is the proof that the lesson has been learnt. It felt that bringing Buffy back to more realistic stories (realistic is taken with a pinch of salt), made the narrative have more impact. Season 10 is perfectly set up with more than a few twists in the tail form the ninth, we also have a side running storyline in Angel and Faith add these two together and what you get is a whole heap of Whedonverse goodnes

You can find our review of Buffy Season 10 #1 here

Back Catalogue; A look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8

30/3/2014

 
Even though we always endeavour not to spoil there may be unintentional spoilers for season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.It may be worth your while looking at our synopsis of the first season or better still grab a visual copy of Buffy on DVD, or through Netflix etc and have some slaying fun of course from this point I will also add from Dark Horse Comics as well.. If you don’t mind learning a little more of the comings and goings centred around Sunnydale high then read on McDuff.

Yes you did read the title correctly Buffy has a continuing story thanks to Joss Whedon and Dark Horse Comics. The end of season 7 left a promise of more adventures for the Scooby Gang but most of us expected this to be fan fiction or just imagined stories from Slayer fans. Instead we get a story that follows on from the TV show and builds on many of its key themes and ideas.
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TV has its good side but it can also limit a creator as finances have to be factored in when thinking about plots. This is something comics do not have to worry about basically if an artist can draw a writer can plot it. Unfortunately Mr Whedon took this theme a little too far as we get some rather far-fetched plots that remove Buffy away from the relatable ideals that made her so appealing. Its not that its bad it just feels a little off in some section and I think the series really is a peak trough situation. If I was viewing this as just a new comic instead of a continuing series this may not have been so obvious as the stories are strong, but we are dealing with a continuing property.

The series is split into multiple arcs with a few one shot and special issues thrown in, these allow the focus to drift from Buffy and onto other members of the now much extended cast. If you cast your mind back t series 7 Willow had a cast a spell to awaken all the potential Slayers in the world and now we have a sizable Buffy Force all ready to fight evil. The rise of the potentials does give rise to have a number of problems; the most significant is probably one of the more significant themes in the Buffy series Powerful Women. Sometimes this has been hinted at and other times it has been quite overt, in the early skirmishes with the Twilight Buffy voices her dissatisfaction with the usual status quo saying;
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Buffy; It's about women. It's about power and It's about Women and you just hate those two words in the same sentence don't you?
This would not be Buffy however unless a few things remained the same and aligned with the female perspective is Joss Whedons love of killing characters off and also having others make a return appearance. Thanks to a world where magic permeates everything although far-fetched most of the resurrection of characters has generally been handled pretty well. However if everyone came back then the deaths would lose meaning, thankfully Joss has not fallen into that narrative crippling device and instead kept death as an ever present feature of the universe.

The trouble with look at a very long series of comics is that there will be occasions where the art will fluctuate. In single issues this can be subtle but when you read an arc in big chunks the deviations can be more jarring. The art is generally good but there are some pretty stellar issues which make the good ones lose a measure of impact. It sounds a little greedy to also want the best but if standards are set high then dropping below that point will always cause a stir. The tone of the art feels a lot more risqué than the show and we do see quite a lot of flesh in the art, Everything is tastefully done but you do get a sense of a mature appeal to the comic. One of the art highlights comes arly in the series when a skinless enemy is back on the hunt for Buffy but accidentally captures one of the gang instead. The depiction of the musculature is great and it the representation has a haunting quality that does stand out.

Overall Season 8 is a strong showing in the Buffyverse the multiple writers led by Joss Whedon went in a few directions that led Buffy from the usual path, but without experimentation we would not know what works in this medium for the franchise. It may not be everyone's taste but I think in the comic format Buffy has found a new home.

Back Catalogue; A look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series 7

28/3/2014

 
Even though we always endeavour not to spoil there may be unintentional spoilers for season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. It may be worth your while looking at our synopsis of the first season or better still grab a visual copy of Buffy on DVD, or through Netflix etc and have some slaying fun. If you don’t mind learning a little more of the comings and goings centred around Sunnydale high then read on McDuff.

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Image courtesy of Dark Horse
The start of the seventh season sees our team split more than usual, Willow and Giles are visiting a coven in Devon with the hope of restoring our red haired witch back to her old self. As for the rest of the Scooby gang they have either passed on, returned to their former selves or are just going about their normal lives.
This series though is building to something pretty epic the end of series 6 showed that Buffy is not the only all powerful woman in Sunnydale. Driven by hate and grief Willow became the most dangerous witch in the world. However it was perhaps the least powerful member of the Scoobes that saved the day, Xander has been pretty much an ever present throughout the Buffy run. His brand of wit has always been there but it was his tenderness that really won the day.

For the start of the season though we are reintroduced to Sunnydale high and by an odd twist of fate the place where Buffy will end up working. Coupled with this is the deluge of characters who return in this season. The whole season has a reunion feel but thankfully Its handled well. We also have a draft of new recruits to the Buffy Bootcamp but as somethings changes, others will always stay the same
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Buffy: Talisman must've been destroyed.
Dawn: How'd you know it was a talisman?
Buffy: There's always a talisman.
We do get an action ramp up with a new breed of enemy to face, its good to see Buffy being in danger and having to rely on her friends. Again it points back to the strength of the gang and the way they all support each other, it has been one of the best things about Buffy in its entirety and in this seventh series we really get to the know the value of a collective.

Ultimately though Buffy is the key to victory and watching her grow as a character over the seven seasons was one of the best televisual experiences in my life. Thankfully watching Buffy back now the show pretty much holds up. The CGI may be a little dated but this show was more than about the way it looked. Its odd to think that over a decade later there has not been a show quite like this. The strong female lead is something we should not need to talk about but far to often girls/women are not portrayed as the carriers of shows. Buffy was a trend setting show but unfortunately TV failed to hang on to the coat tails of the phenomenon. 

The end of Buffy was a fitting end, the final season had a lot of depth and some great performances It was a fitting end but like we have seen in the past just because something ends does not mean its finished.

Back Catalogue; A look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series 1

19/3/2014

 
Being the new kid in school can always be difficult, however when your school is located at Hellmouth then things may get a little messy. This is where we meet Buffy Summers our reluctant heroine, although she already knows her role as the slayer it does take a little time for her to warm up to the name.
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Image courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
Although when the series launched it was a new TV show, Buffy had already had an outing at the movies. However the tone of the series was similar but with a new cast the question was always going to be can the TV show endure?

Obviously in hindsight this seems like a daft question but a new show being headed by a young relatively unknown actress was always going to be a risk. Add to that the mix of horror, action and teen life and you could be facing disaster. From the first episode I was hooked I was always a vampire fan and this show was bringing a dark side to TV. The fact that Sarah Michelle Geller was an extremely charismatic lead (not to mention I had a huge crush on her) helped the show gain an audience, but it is the shows creativity that kept the audience tuning in. From the very opening of the first episode you are expected to believe in the normal format of a vampire attacking a damsel in distress, but this is expertly flipped around and so Buffy was born.

The first Season starts with a double header and has a twelve episode run; the first episodes are a particular highlight. Instead of rushing our introduction the story plays out over the two episodes, this allows the viewer time to adjust to the world and really starts Buffy off on a strong footing.


In these opening episodes we are also able to meet the Scooby gang as they are affectionately titled (by Xander). Although Buffy is a great central character the team around her are every bit as important in the shows narrative. The rag tag collection of a geeky girl (willow), a Librarian (Giles), a wise cracking want to be cool guy (Xander) and the dark and mysterious Angel. Each has their place of importance to the collective and will be the main stay of this series and some of what follows.

Although Buffy is called a Vampire Slayer she does have the ability to slay pretty much any evil creature and in this first season she will have to face monsters and witches and of course our fang touting bad guys. My personal favourite battle is from the episode entitled the Puppet show, I’ll not spoil the plot for you but the title should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

We do have a big bad in this series called the Master and as the name suggests he is the leader of the Vampires and although not in every episode he and his minions are always lurking. The Final episode is pretty epic and we really get see our lead performing at her best.

Ultimately Buffy was a great piece of pop culture. Watching the series again now, it still holds up even though the visuals are a little shaky. We will be taking a look at each season over the next few weeks but for now I’ll leave you with one of the most iconic quotes form the show from Giles
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In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.

Random Chat; Why I’m diving into the Sex, trade.

1/3/2014

 
by Paul Fiander

After almost swearing off Sex for good.

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Retired superhero Simon Cooke has returned to Saturn City to live life as a "normal" civilian. Easier said than done! You might've heard about SEX, but nothing beats the real thing!
Before you read on I will just say did you notice the comma in the title. If yes then you realise that this article is not about me joining or partaking in the oldest profession in the world instead, it’s about the Image comic Sex and its trade edition.

Okay first a little bit of background Sex is a story created by Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski about a retired superhero and his attempt to rejoin normal society. It may sound familiar but the way the story and characters are crafted gives this story a truly astonishing sense of depth. 

After many a recommendation I decided  this Batman analogue was something I wanted to experience. So off I trotted to my comic book shop and picked up the first issue. Then the troubles began.

I read the first issue and although it was intriguing I could not see the hook so I reread and reread and eventually decided this was not for me.

Then by chance I was listening to Eleven O'Clock comics episode 302 and the subject of Sex came up spearheaded by Jason. At around the 1 hr 17 minute I found I was not the only one who missed out the appeal of the early issue. 

Towards the end of the section (around the 1hr 29 point) Vince mentioned that reading Sex 4 to 5 issues at a time was the way to go to really get the point of this story. This prompted me to invest into the Sex trade (which you can see the cover to the left). The Trade collects the first 8 issues and you can get this for a really good price. Its fair to say this has helped immensely and may even change the way I read certain comics (but that's for another post).

I will be doing a full review in time but if like me you have found this a difficult story to get into then I can recommend the trade as the real way to look at this series.
*Obviously the title for this article was a little tongue in cheek but please be aware this is a mature read and those with a sensitive disposition may want to avoid this story.

Random Chat; The Walking Dead, a poster child for Trans Media Entertainment.

6/2/2014

 
Whether your passion is Gaming, TV or Comics or a combination of these you can have helped but hear the name The Walking Dead. Robert Kirkman's along with Tony Moore (who was the original artist but he was replaced by Charlie Adlard at the 7th issue) creation has gone from strength to strength since initial comic release in 2003. Spawning books a TV show and now a hugely successful game franchise (along with a not so successful game but lets keep quiet about Survival Instinct).
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I'm a fan of the three areas mostly thanks to the way they interweave with each other. Each can be appreciated on its own merits but as a whole they give a great insight into the post Zombie Apocalypse world. The varied characters are multi dimensional each with their own back story  and inner demons. This helps the narrative to flow and make something interesting come out of nearly every issue or episode. 

This kind of media is growing and thanks to the efforts of Telltale, Skybound (along with Image) and AMC it looks like the Walking Dead is destined to grow even stronger as time goes on.

We have a cunning plan in how we want to cover this type of media which we will be sharing more of in the coming weeks. So for now I leave you with this common question; who actually cuts the grass? 
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    What this is

    The random chat is changing a little to be just as the title says. This is going to function as my place to chat about things that can come from anywhere, from TV to films to Sport to gaming. Most things are up for discussion even though I will avoid the key no no's like Religion, Politics and Macro Economics (Micro economics of the gaming/comics world though is still fair game) and of course the biggie whether the Spice Girls were the greatest musical group of all time or not. I hope to bring a taste of something different in these posts and please feel free to comment where you see fit.

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Paul Fiander
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