Tag: superman

Superman: The Unity Saga Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis

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Superman: the Unity Saga Vol. 1 is the first run written by Brian Michael Bendis away from Marvel Comics. If you have ever wanted to get into reading comic books but the giant wall of backstory and previous issues makes jumping in to a run seem daunting? Fear not! Brian Michael Bendis is here to save the day! All you need to know to enjoy this run is Rogol Zaar is a bad guy who doesn’t like Kryptonians, Supermans son Jon and wife Lois Lane are away on an intergalactic field trip, and the Phantom Zone is a space prison for space bad guys. That is it! All you need to know to enjoy this book.

If anyone has read anything from Bendis before this run (if you haven’t read anything from Bendis, you should, he’s great!) you should know that he is known for his compelling and well-written dialogue and this book is no exception. Every character has a distinct voice and the witty dialogue doesn’t stop from page one to the cliffhanger ending.

Power and responsibility are the themes that Bendis plays with in this story. Is Superman doing enough with the powers that he has or is he wasting his potential on extinguishing fires and saving cats from trees? Bendis expertly weaves this question throughout the story, putting Superman in more and more compromising positions and making Superman confront his place in the world.

Ivan Reis does fantastic penciling as always, he really gets to shine in the full page splash panels later on in the action set pieces. Ivan also does a fantastic job of capturing the look and feel of a Superman comic.

I also never knew how much I would love seeing Superman as a father either but Bendis does a fantastic job writing the scenes with Clark and his son. Some of the best writing in the entire volume is in those scenes where Clark is teaching lessons to his son that Superman learned from his father.

Lego DC Super-Villains Video Game

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Lego DC Super-Villains is a Lego game from Traveller’s Tales. If you have played Lego games in the past, this one should seem familiar to you. You break stuff, get studs, solve puzzles, and build stuff, all while playing as some of your favorite characters. This coupled with the Lego game’s signature coach co-op means that you can play through the game by yourself or with a friend. This game shifts the focus away from caped crusaders to the nefarious super villains of the DC universe.

There are over 170 playable characters, both villains and super heroes, for you to play as. These range from characters that you know and love such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Batman and Aquaman, to more obscure DC characters such as Clock King and Condiment King.

This game is unique because of how it integrates the character creation feature into the story. Usually in Lego games, you play as your favorite characters and get to play as them throughout the game. In Lego DC Super-Villains, however, you get to make your own villain named The Rookie that you get to play as an upgrade as you progress through the game.

Another fun game for the whole family to enjoy from Traveller’s Tales. Lego DC Super-Villains is available at the Davenport Public Library for both Xbox One and PS4.

 

Bizarro by Heath Corson

- Stephanie 1 Comment

bizarro

Everyone loves a good superhero, right? They swoop in and save the day, leaving the public stunned at their magnificent feats of strength and good will. Not all superheroes are worshipped though. Enter in Bizarro. Bizarro is Superman’s opposite in every way. From the way he speaks to the way he flies, Bizarro is truly Superman’s mirror opposite.

In this first volume of Bizarro by Heath Corson, Jimmy Olsen, one of Superman’s friends, finds himself on a roadtrip with Bizarro from Metropolis to Bizarro America, aka Canada. Jimmy has an ulterior motive: he wants to create a coffee table book of their adventures, something that will hopefully make him lots of money. Road-tripping with Bizarro turns a little crazy when he introduces Jimmy to Colin, his pet chupacabra, and when Bizarro takes the two of them off on strange and funny adventures. This graphic novel allows readers to follow Bizarro’s mixed-up life and the messes both Jimmy and Bizarro inevitably end up entangled in. I hope future volumes will give readers more of a look into Bizarro’s back story.

Corson is giving new life to Bizarro in this first volume, highlighting all the differences between Superman and Bizarro and even giving the superstars of Metropolis multiple cameos in this book, a shout-out fans of Superman are sure to enjoy. This addition of familiar people to Bizarro’s world helped me ground and better understand this book. (The way Bizarro speaks may push you out of this book, but I encourage you to stick with it and just remember that he always means the opposite of what he is actually saying.) Happy reading!