So the wholesome 100 Keanu Reeves himself decides to write a comic book, and the results are... About what you'd expect: Kind of shallow, but still fun. BRZRKR tells the story of an immortal soldier that -between all the berzerking he does- is actually a depressed guy that's looking for a cure for his immortality.
This book is surprisingly similar to John Wick. Aside from the fact that the main character is literally just buff Keanu Reeves, it holds the same principle of shallow story with tons of action and long scenes of the main character just brutally killing a lot of people. I say the story is shallow because there's so little of it, but what's there actually isn't bad.
I had fun with the first volume, but I think the big question is whether this story warrants 3 volumes or not. I guess I'll find out.
Reviews and Comments
Like: Graphic Novels, Comics, Manga, Fantasy Books
Dislike: Generic superhero stuff, anything lacking creativity
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popcar2 reviewed BRZRKR Vol. 1 by Matt Kindt
Review of 'BRZRKR Vol. 1' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
popcar2 reviewed Night of the Ghoul by Scott Snyder
Review of 'Night of the Ghoul' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Night of the Ghoul is an amalgamation of all the horror cliches you'd come to expect. I keep reading Scott Snyder's work thinking this might change my mind on him, but like his other works it's sloppy and uninspired. It's a 4/10 horror flick in comic form.
popcar2 reviewed Kroma by Lorenzo De Felici
Review of 'Kroma' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Well, this was a great surprise! Kroma is a wonderful fantasy tale about a world where color is evil and everyone is forced to live in the safety of the monochrome pale city after the king of color declared war on humanity. The lore is straightforward but very rich and creative. The story and art definitely don't disappoint either.
The less said about the story is better, so I won't elaborate much on it and you can go in spoiler-free. What I really love about Kroma though is that it doesn't overstay its welcome at all. At about just 180 pages, you can read it all in one sitting. It surprisingly doesn't feel rushed either, there's just enough story for you to be satisfied.
As for a few things I didn't enjoy very much... Here's my spoiler review:
----------SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS----------
Seriously, big spoilers. You've been warned.
A few things …
Well, this was a great surprise! Kroma is a wonderful fantasy tale about a world where color is evil and everyone is forced to live in the safety of the monochrome pale city after the king of color declared war on humanity. The lore is straightforward but very rich and creative. The story and art definitely don't disappoint either.
The less said about the story is better, so I won't elaborate much on it and you can go in spoiler-free. What I really love about Kroma though is that it doesn't overstay its welcome at all. At about just 180 pages, you can read it all in one sitting. It surprisingly doesn't feel rushed either, there's just enough story for you to be satisfied.
As for a few things I didn't enjoy very much... Here's my spoiler review:
----------SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS----------
Seriously, big spoilers. You've been warned.
A few things bugged me in the story. For one, I'm not a big fan of the ending. It feels mean-spirited that the plan to get people out of the Pale City involved basically storming in and killing everyone. I get it, it was mostly revenge and hatred, but it feels weird that the story tried to end on a positive note after that when it feels like her actions would only confirm people's biases that color is evil. Surely there was an easier way considering she already had an unstoppable army at her side. She could've stormed in without killing anyone and let things play out.
Aside from that, the Makavi's backstory made like no sense. Trying to pull an "I'm actually misunderstood and loved you very much" card didn't really work for me. I was content with him just being a villain. Overall, I still loved the story! Were the ending a bit tighter, I think a 5/5 rating was totally in the cards.
Review of 'Beauty' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I'm torn. This book had fantastic art, a very neat ambitious story, and a very interesting world. But it also has serious issues with the story that take away from the whole experience. The second half is kind of repetitive and leads nowhere for a while, then we get a very abrupt ending that had little to no build up.
It was a fun read and I'd recommend it, but the ending was pretty disappointing, so it's more of a 3/5 than a 4/5.
Spoiler review: Would've been an easy 4/5 if the book didn't actually end with "and then she conquered all the lands and everyone lived in peace". They were also building up for another villain, the son of the boar king, and we literally ignored his existance about 20 pages after he was introduced. The "happily ever after" just isn't convincing after all the wars and people …
I'm torn. This book had fantastic art, a very neat ambitious story, and a very interesting world. But it also has serious issues with the story that take away from the whole experience. The second half is kind of repetitive and leads nowhere for a while, then we get a very abrupt ending that had little to no build up.
It was a fun read and I'd recommend it, but the ending was pretty disappointing, so it's more of a 3/5 than a 4/5.
Spoiler review: Would've been an easy 4/5 if the book didn't actually end with "and then she conquered all the lands and everyone lived in peace". They were also building up for another villain, the son of the boar king, and we literally ignored his existance about 20 pages after he was introduced. The "happily ever after" just isn't convincing after all the wars and people fighting over her.
I also felt disappointed that we never got to see other faeries. We only saw Mab and that's it. It felt like they were building up to Mara being a character (Mab's sister, queen of faeries). Nothing came of it. We didn't even get to see her. I'm surprised nobody else reviewing this story mentions this because it felt like a chunk of the story that clearly was planned but never materialized. We even see faeries react to Mab saying "She's back!" and scurrying off, as if planning to do something about it.
Overall, good story. Really enjoyed the concept and illustrations, but the execution felt like there's a lot to be desired. Like there were supposed to be 50 more pages before the authors decided it's time to end it.
popcar2 reviewed Batman - One Bad Day by Tom King
Review of 'Batman - One Bad Day' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Tom King is very hit or miss for me, and this one just ended up being not bad. The story definitely thinks it's smarter than it actually is. For a story about The Riddler, I was hoping it wouldn't be that simple.
Also, Tom King does his thing where he makes the characters unnecessarily edgy. Not a fan of his version of Gordon.