Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Well having taken a week or so to re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in about 2 1/2 days!

Like many others, I agree that the last book doesn't disappoint. It ties up most of the plotlines quite nicely and (importantly for me) - logically.

I didn't think the body count at the end was as high as it could have been but this is a children's book but there were no real surprises. In fact, I was most surprised that I wasn't surprised! (I had generally been in many of the other books).

Reading the Half-Blood Prince immediately beforehand was a great idea and I'm really pleased that I did as things it helped me follow the story so much better. As it was, I wasn't trying to catch-up with what happened in the penultimate book as Harry and the others came into conflict with death eaters straightaway.

Of the top of my head my favourite bits....

Kreacher's change of heart and appearance at the end.
Ron and Hermione finally smooching and Harry's reaction (the timing wasn't great)
McGonagall taking charge in a crisis

What I would have liked to see....

Umbridge snuff it!

Magnum at The Palace Tamworth

I went to the first of three rock gigs which I've got tickets for over the next few months.

Magnum played a warm-up gig for a European Festival gig in Tamworth. It was a good gig even if it was two songs shorter than the set they played on their last UK tour in the spring. The didn't play "On A Storytellers Night" or "We All Run".

It was a minor quibble as I had an excellent view.

I've not seen them since 1992 - which I couldn't believe when I checked - and they still deliver a solid set even though they're getting a little long in the tooth. Bob Catley's stage act is getting even more pronounced and keyboard player, Mark Stanway, is starting to look like Gollum after he's had the ring for a bit.

Best songs on the night - Out of the Shadows, Les Mort Dansant, Vigilante, The Spirt

Journey

Whilst getting stuck into the Harry Potter books, I've also been listening to a lot of Journey recently.



I've had a handful of their albums for quite a few years now, but I'm just starting to appreciate them a bit more.


I got "Escape" remastered with bonus tracks last Saturday, "Frontiers" a week or so ago and I'm due to receive "Trial By Fire" in a few days time. I've had escape on vinyl for years but it was after buying a dvd of the Escape tour that my interest was rekindled. That was an excellent dvd and as it came with a cd of the gig I've played it a great deal.

However, Journey have done quite a number of albums since Escape was released in 1981 and it has been those I've been catching up on. I was especially interested in the tracks that they still play live. This is the set list from their recent UK tour (which I'm still gutted I couldn't get to see - but it just wasn't convenient.


Message Of Love – Trial By Fire
Rubicon . - Frontiers
Stone In Love . - Escape
Ask The Lonely . - Frontiers
Wheel In The Sky . –Infinity
Edge Of The Blade . - Frontiers
Only The Young . - Frontiers
Who's Cryin Now -Escape
Open Arms . - Escape
Open The Door . -Infinity
I'll Be Alright Without You . – Raised on Radio
Chain Reaction . - Frontiers
Lights . –Infinity
Escape .- Escape
Mother Father . - Escape
Be Good To Yourself . – Raised on Radio
Where Were You . - Departure
Faithfully . - Frontiers
Don't Stop Believin' . - Escape
Anyway You Want It . –Departure
Separate Ways - Frontiers

Distracted by Harry

Well just like the rest of the World, I'm eagerly anticipating the next and final HP book. It's out at midnight tonight although my lovely wife has first dibs on reading it. (She's actually going along at midnight to pick up her copy). No worries, I'm a bit more patient but to pass the time and revise for what is likely to be an exciting book I've decided to read the 6th book "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". So that's what I'm reading at the moment.

I did, however, have an opportunity to go into town an get the latest comics. These are what I'll be reading when I've finished Harry.

New Avengers 32
World War Hulk 2
Wolverine:Origins Annual 1
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man 22
Avengers: The Initiative 4
Captain America (2005) 28
Fallen Son: Iron Man 5
Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun 1
Highwaymen 1
Highwaymen 2

The last few were impulse buys based on recent glowing reviews on "The Buy Pile" on Comic Book Resources. I'll let you know if they were worth it.

Heroes Season 1 conclusion

The great stories have great endings. One that you either didn't see coming, or feel logical and satisfying in some way.

To be honest, Heroes didn't quite live up to the promise right at the end. And it looked as if it would up to the final few minutes.

The problem was that I could see how things could be resolved, and when they were, the writers complicated things.

Sylar proved to be a great villain, minor characters from early on showed up again in important roles, Hiro stood up to be counted and all the main players were put in place quite neatly. So it's a shame I felt that they could have made it better. Perhaps things will be explained in the next series which I'm already looking forward to, because, nit picking and the slowness of the first 3 episodes aside, it was great.

World War Hulk Round 1

It's worth reviewing both these comics together as they form part of one story.

World War Hulk #1 by Pak and Romita Jr provides more of the "big picture" with some fantastic (as always) art by Romita Jr. and some great fights especially between the Hulk and Iron Man.

Hulk #107 by Pak and Frank, on the other hand, is more low key (well relatively) and concentrates on Amadeus Cho again and his mission to gather allies for the Hulk. Great art by Gary Frank as well.

This crossover is shaping up well so far. Then again so did Civil War for the first few issues. Fingers crossed the drop in quality won't happen again.

Ratings 8/10. I enjoyed both issues.

World War Hulk begins...

It's in Hulk#106 by Greg Pak and Gary Frank that World War Hulk begins.

It's a pity then that I read World War Hulk Prologue first (because logically a prologue comes before the main story) so from one point of view I've got off to a bad start with Marvels 2007 summer crossover.

But taking things in their correct order, the story's not too bad. Issue 106 is probably the best of Greg Pak's run so far and, ironically, the Hulk's not in it. Instead we get a depowered She-Hulk, Doc Samson and an interesting new character Amadeus Cho (a teenage genius).

Gary Frank's art is perfect for this type of story and the supporting cast begin to take their places ready for ol' greenskin to return to Earth from space.

Rating 7.5/10

The Hulk still doesn't make it back in this prologue by Peter David with Al Rio, Lee Weeks and Sean Phillips handling the art chores. But he's on his way and getting closer.

The book basically brought new readers up to speed with what happened on Planet Hulk and looked back at some of the Hulk's past encounters with Reed Richards, Iron Man, Doc Strange and Black Bolt. The people he holds responsible for sending him into space.

What pleases me is that She-Hulk looks to be a major character in the series. I do hope so. Although she'll need to regain her powers soon to take an active part.

Rating 6/10.

Planet Hulk

Planet Hulk by Pak and Pagulayan was a major story that ran through "Hulk" issues 92 to 105.

Hulk was sent out into space via a trick by the Illuminati. The reason being that he was too dangerous to remain on Earth.

Another reason was that Marvel needed him out of the picture whilst Civil War played out. As the side which included the Hulk on their side would have a large advantage.

The story reminded me of a couple of stories from DC. Namely Superman circa 1989 which Supes goes on a self imposed exile and the last story in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing where swampy flees into space. Both stories were considerably better than this one.

The Superman one is a good comparison as he also becomes a gladiator before turning hero, overthrowing an overlord and saving a planet.


I didn't really care for any of the new characters who were introduced, and considering there were 14 issues to flesh them out, that was poor. The story was predictable. In fact one of the only elements that I did like was one of the predictable ones. Namely, the fact that the Hulk can never find happiness and so, in keeping with tradition, it all goes wrong for him just as he starts to believe that he can be happy. And, also keeping with tradition, it was the puny humans fault.

I hope World War Hulk is better.

Finally, I didn't much care for the art as many of the alien characters were indistinguishable from each other. Things got slightly better as the story went on as you would expect but still, not the best.

The covers were generally good, however, and I've included a selection here.

Rating (overall) 5/10

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Caught the brand new HP movie last Friday night.

Although lots had been cut from the original novel, it was still a good adaptation for fans of the franchise. I don't think much effort was made to bring latecomers up to speed, but I expect most people will know that this is the fifth film and understand that.

I enjoyed the film with the best bits being the big wand fight at the end and bits of the Dumbledor's army secret magic lessons.

Whetted my appetite for the final book which is out in a week.

New CD's

I've been really busy over the last few nights with work & household stuff.

Also been reading a load of Hulk issues which make up the Planet Hulk storyline. I'll review the whole story in one post.

I've got a couple of new/old rock CD's via Amazon in the post

Frontiers by Journey. An album from 1983 which I hadn't got on vinyl or tape.
Trouble by Whitesnake which I had.

Both CDs had good bonus tracks which made them worthwhile.

In addition, I've downloaded from HMV digital about 10 individual tracks from various albums which is an economical way of getting certain songs without shelling out for the whole CD.

We've also started watching "The Dresden Files" which I recorded from Sky One earlier this year. The first two episodes have been enjoyable but not spectacular.

More soon...

FF, Wolverine and Fallen Son reviews

Fantastic Four 547 by Dwayne McDuffie, Paul Pelletier and Rick Magyar

My only gripe with this issue is the cover, as it's one of those generic covers that give no clue to what's going on inside.

Inside, however, is a good story. There are references to The Initiative, but they don't dominate the story. Instead we get cosmic mysteries and threats, old-school villains looking for revenge, a healthy dose of humour and nice art to boot.

Rating 7.5/10 (lost 1/2 point due to the cover)

Wolverine #54 by Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi has improved quite a bit with this issue and the story starts to get more important than the endless fights with Sabretooth and Bianchi's art (which is still great).

I do hope that Daniel Way and Loeb have discussed Logan's origin and so that these two stories will tie-in together eventually. At the moment, they are world apart.

Rating 8/10.

Fallen Son Chapter 4: Spider-man by Loeb and Finch was the poorest issue out of the three reviewed here tonight.

The art was good, but the story a bit lame. Pete spent the issue feeling sorry for himself and then rushing into a confrontation with the Rhino. The real problem is that we've seen Pete in these moods plenty of times before and I would have preferred to see another hero doing some soul searching.

Oh yeah, there was a pointless Wolverine appearance just to reinforce my point yesterday that he seems to be everywhere at once. No needed really.

Rating 6/10

Meet Daken - Wolverine's son

Three issues of "Wolverine: Origins" last night/ Numbers 13-15 all by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon.

I still like this comic. It's an easy read, I enjoy Dillon's art and the stories move along at a fast pace. What you've got to do is suspend belief even more so than you would have to for any other comic. Wolverine's life is far too complicated, there are too many secrets, he's in several places(comics) at once and all sorts of other things. But if you put them to one side, its enjoyable enough.

I liked the fact that Bucky (The Winter Soldier) shows up at the end. Now I remember that Wolvie met him in Fallen Son: Wolverine so he's aware of his reappearance but I certainly didn't realise that he knew him well enough to get involved in a huge conspiracy such as this.

Ratings (#13-#15) 7/10.

Back In Black (3 of 5)

Halfway through the Black in Black story in ASM #541 by Straczynski and Garney.

I'm still not convinced that Peter will kill anybody and we've seen him act all hardball before to extract info. The story is moving into the final act with the show-down with the Kingpin but it does seem we've seen it all before.

At least JMS referred to a very old issue for the cure for Aunt May. It was also nice to see the Editor's notes referencing those issues. With the cheapness and availability of Essential volumes, many more readers can now go and look them up.

Ron Garney has a simplicity which suits this book (but I still want JR. Jr back) so no complaints there. Just nothing new...

Rating 6/10

Heroes Chapter 21:The Hard Part

I don't get the reference in the title - what this episode (and it was a good 'un) really did was bring all the players together in NY for the big finale.

We've known for most of the series how things are going to end but it's interesting to see how we get there. I predict that things will finish with the big explosion - but we don't know yet who will explode. Ted, Peter or Sylar.

My guess it will be Ted.

It also looks like Linderman could be responsible for the Heroes getting their powers in some way after Niki and Micah's dad find files on all of them going back years. Maybe anyway...

2 more episodes to go.

No Beyonder...No!

I was not happy after reading New Avengers: Illuminati #3 by Bendis/Reed and Cheung.

In this issue the Illuminati go back and "stop" the Beyonder of Secret Wars II. What crap. It just doesn't make sense that the whole Secret Wars II was just a figment of the Beyonder's imagination. That series tied into most of the Marvel titles at the time. I seem to recall that his appearance had a profound effect on Spidey and I'm sure that the events have been refer to since - so they must have happened!

So utter bollocks. I can't accept that this is true.

The art by Jim Cheung was alright though.

Rating 3/10 (for the art).

Much better (as expected) was Captain America #27 by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting and Mike Perkins.

I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it, I'm sure this will read better as a trade but I'm still enjoying getting a monthly dose of Brubaker (I get Daredevil in trade and will do the same with Criminal).

One surprise in this issue was that Bucky/ Winter Soldier and the Black Widow used to get it on. How old is Natasha anyway - I'll have to refresh myself on her on the Marvel website.

Rating 7.5/10

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man

I read three issues of FN S-M last night. Issues 19-21 all by Peter David and Todd Nauck.

Issue 19 completed the Uncle Ben comes back and murders a future Spider-man, the Sandman's dad gets the blame and Spidey and the Sandman team-up to sort out the mess storyline.

The description speaks for itself. It's one convoluted plot and not a particularly great one either. Peter David partly makes up for it with some witty dialogue and Nauck's art is fine - but it's odd that the best thing about this issue was the story recap which I found hilarious and a good "Soap" homage.

Issues 20 and 21 completed a long running sub-plot concerning Flash and the High School nurse. She's actually made out of magic Spiders created during "The One" storyline and wants to use Flash as a mate/ food source for her spider offspring. Again another mad story.

The best bests in these issues were Pete's talk with Betty and his apology for lying to her about his secret identity and, right at the end, Robbie Robertson having a real go at Jonah and his attitude towards super-heroes. JJJ wasn't pleased.

Overall, 6/10 for all the issues.

New Avengers 31 - The shock!

It's a bit of a shock that I'm back reading new comics as it has been some time since I got stuck into the latest comics. However, issue New Avengers 31 by Brian Bendis and Leinil Yu was billed as having a shocking ending so that was first on my list.

Unfortunately, as I've said before - I knew what the shock was before reading having seen it spoiled on the cover of Wizard.

The shock is that Elektra is revealed as a skrull. However, I don't think she has always been a skrull and this one is a fairly new arrival. There was certainly nothing shown in the issue to say she had always been a skrull. I would of thought that Matt Murdock would have smelt something odd during his time with her if that had been the case.

Ignoring the shock ending for a bit, I actually thought it was quite a poor issue. The art looked rushed and Bendis probably penned the script in 15 mins or so. This title deserves a better artist and more time spent by Bendis to come up with good stories which I know he can do.

Rating 5/10

In contrast, Avengers: The Initiative #3 by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli shows an improvement from previous issues. It seems like Slotty is getting into gear.

Spidey makes a good guest appearance (and a relevant one) and shows the new recruits a few things. An interesting quote from Initiative members " when trying to take out Spidey "Don't worry, we have no intention of leaving the world without Spider-man". That goes a long way to show just how far the Initiative have gone to the dark side.

It's certainly making the Marvel books a bit different - which is what we want in the long run.

Rating 7.5/10

Abhorsen by Garth Nix

I've just completed Garth Nix's zombie filled trilogy with "Abhorsen".

Although the book is supposed to be marketed for older children I certainly didn't really notice as the central theme of death and control of the dead made it quite a dark fantasy book.

This story completes the story in Lirael where Lirael and Sam take on The Destroyer with the help of various pets and willing but ultimately not very helpful military personnel.

Again I enjoyed this a lot. The plot was well constructed and the pace built up to an exciting finale. Bit of a sad ending as well.