Kyle Higgins (1)Recensioni

Solidly told story, with a tense don't-trust-anyone sort of feel, but the murder mystery unfortunately gets a little lost in the many twists of events.

Quite a terrifying view of some of the biggest crises and events in DC history that asks 'what if'.

Excellent noir whodunit policier, with very good slow burning (&cyberpunk feeling) personal drama on the background of an unoriginal space opera pretext.

Being a middle book of three, this review is mostly discussing specific plot points and characters that continue from the first volume, assuming that anyone considering whether or not to read the series would be looking mainly at reviews of the first part in any case. Overall, this is a strong continuation that feels planned, filled with drive and direction, but perhaps a bit less impactful for me as a reader than the emotional storytelling the Jim Gordon plotline brought to the first third.

I don't care for Hush's simplified origin for the New 52 (I'm fine with the Bruce emulation, but not the lack of his mother's continued existence plaguing him his entire life), but this is an effective book. I still don't like the supernatural elements that feel out of place (even though it's at least starting to become clear that's the whole point, a major clue in itself), but they feel less shoehorned here than in the first volume. Julia Pennyworth, against all odds, is an effective and emotional introduction to the cast that allows for poignant and powerful moments and interactions which wouldn't otherwise be happening. Jason Bard is a bit sidelined here compared to volume one, which is a shame, but hopefully he'll get to shine more as he re-takes centre stage in the final third.
Changing Catwoman's parentage seems a bit pointless, as they could do the exact same plotline with her with her old Falcone connection as they do with her new background, but her inner conflict at it is nevertheless intriguing. Too bad she apparently spins off into her own book after this, I'd have liked to see the final third explore her new (unusually selflessly motivated) bid for underworld power.

Dick, Alfred, Tim, and Cassandra are saints for being able to deal with the humungous prick that is Damian Wayne.

Batman goes against Hush in this collection of comics. Hush is the man behind gang wars, riots and terrorist strikes against Gotham City and Batman & Co. has to deal with it all.

Personally I felt kind of overwhelmed with this graphic novel. Part of me liked reading 300 pages of action, and part of me was sometimes a bit confused when stuff happened that made me wonder what the heck is going on, like who is this person and what has this to do with the main story?

Let's just say that some issues was less interesting than others. I liked Batman fight against Hush, I liked Catwoman's problems with her father and of course her and Batman working together (I just wish there was more of them working together in this volume) and of course Julia Pennyworth taking over from her father, who is really sick after being poisoned.




That was great, but then again we had issues with a character called Spoiler (?) and her father who is trying to kill her for some reason (for some reason) and parts like that just made me go wtf?


On the plus side, now I knew what happened to Arkham, why it was destroyed. That made the graphic novel about turning Wayne Mansion into the new Arkham a bit more comprehensible.

The art was almost always great, some issues was not that good, but overall very pleasant to read. Loved the cover arts.



I received this copy from DC Comics through Edelweiss in return for an honest review! Thank you!

Batman goes against Hush in this collection of comics. Hush is the man behind gang wars, riots and terrorist strikes against Gotham City and Batman & Co. has to deal with it all.

Personally I felt kind of overwhelmed with this graphic novel. Part of me liked reading 300 pages of action, and part of me was sometimes a bit confused when stuff happened that made me wonder what the heck is going on, like who is this person and what has this to do with the main story?

Let's just say that some issues was less interesting than others. I liked Batman fight against Hush, I liked Catwoman's problems with her father and of course her and Batman working together (I just wish there was more of them working together in this volume) and of course Julia Pennyworth taking over from her father, who is really sick after being poisoned.




That was great, but then again we had issues with a character called Spoiler (?) and her father who is trying to kill her for some reason (for some reason) and parts like that just made me go wtf?


On the plus side, now I knew what happened to Arkham, why it was destroyed. That made the graphic novel about turning Wayne Mansion into the new Arkham a bit more comprehensible.

The art was almost always great, some issues was not that good, but overall very pleasant to read. Loved the cover arts.



I received this copy from DC Comics through Edelweiss in return for an honest review! Thank you!

Reminded me of The Twilight Zone episode Dreams for Sale with a sprinkle of iRobot mixed in. The artwork was pretty good and the plot was also something I enjoyed.

RADIANT BLACK continues to be excellent. This second volume delves a little into some mind bending backstory of what the Radiants are, and we get some history on Pink and how she came into possession of her Radiant. The writing is solid and the art is quite impressive - especially with the inter dimensional/intergalactic aspects. This will be a series I’ll be continuing to look forward to. Collecting issues #7-12 of the series from @imagecomics

Contained within the covers of this collection is the tale of Gotham City. And what a dark tale it is—filled with betrayal, murderer, and corruption. Dick Grayson's Batman teams up with Robin, Red Robin, and the Black Bat to take on a villain out of a steam-punk novel, as he targets the founding families (and their associated structures) of Gotham City.

Gave me some definite INVINCIBLE vibes, with a dash of POWER RANGERS thrown in for a colorful visual cue. A good start to the series, but made the IMO irritating jump from person discovers they now have super powers and within moments have decided that they know this is meant for something important and they are going to do good by these powers. I’ve never felt like that kind of immediate jump to that kind of life-altering decision seemed realistic in that situation. To me, that kind of storytelling is a little on the weak side. At least we’re eventually given a somewhat more grounded backstory on one of the other characters in the book and how/why they came to the decision on how they’d use their powers. Kept me interested enough to want to read the next volume, so it wasn’t all that bad.

Great artwork and storyline.
Love Nightwing and adored Batgirl's appearance.

Snow and The South just don't mix. Drop 8-18 inches of snow and ice across the NC foothills and you get a mess. My teenager has been out of school for an entire week....and I've been cooped up inside. A bit stir crazy today....and desperately wanting something entertaining to read. *Bing* Email alert. A lovely email from Boom! Studios with a link to look at this new release graphic novel.

Power Rangers!

Oh yeah! The day got brighter! Got my hot tea.....a nice fluffy blanket to be comfy at my desk...and got ready to get my nerd on. :) I am not the comic book/graphic novel fan that my husband is....he knows every character, every artist, every writer.....I bow to his knowledge. I can't compete. But....I love graphic novels and comic books! The art is amazing. The story lines interesting. And the characters, plots, histories are always creative and fascinating. So I'm not reading this from an uber expert point of view....but just from the simple joy that the art and action hold for me.

The basics: Tommy Oliver has retired from the Power Rangers. He's feeling his age, but sometimes really misses The Old Days. Plus, he's having a bit of a mid-life crisis after getting downsized from his teaching job. Then his son JJ disappears. Tommy comes out of retirement to find his son and bring him home.

I absolutely loved this story! I will admit I have not followed much of the MMPR stuff since the 90s television show in the US, but even I know the origins of the Green Ranger. I read the RangerWiki to catch up on Tommy's story. Green....white....red.....he's quite the legendary character. I love how this story brings him back for a last adventure. I was glad to see that they consulted Jason David Frank to get the continuity for this legendary character right. But even for someone that never watched the MMPR show or read any of the graphic novels/comic books, this story can be a great stand alone story.

The artwork is fantastic. The story is exciting and action-packed (but it wouldn't really be the Power Rangers without lots of action). It really made me feel nostalgic for the days when I watched the television show with my son.

Great story for those who have loved the Power Rangers for decades and new fans alike!

I had read good reviews of this comic, so bought the single issues, but somehow, I missed one, so ended up waiting for the trade to be published. And then it sat on a shelf for a while. To take my mind off other things, I read it last night. It wasn't what I expected, and I certainly hadn't expected to tear up at the end. This is a Cold War era espionage thriller about preventing nuclear war after the fall of the Soviet Union, with a near future science fiction twist, and it's kinda brilliant. The art is lovely, and I've been a fan of Kyle Higgins' writing for a while now. I would definitely read more of the story if there is more to read, but it stands on its own as is.

I have posted my review of this on my blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Click (or copy/paste to your browser) the link to read the review.

Review link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/booknote-nightwing-vol-3-death-of...

Awful drawings, seems to be a Marvel trend late.

Well done story. I do have one big complaint with it - it's pre-Flashpoint, so it's got the old Damien Wayne, who is an obnoxious prat.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid Deluxe Edition collects Mighty Morphin Power Rangers nos. 24-30, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Free Comic Book Day Special 2018, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2018 Annual no. 1, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid no. 1, and Go Go Power Rangers nos. 9-12 written by Kyle Higgins and Ryan Parrott with art by Jonas Scharf, Daniele di Nicuolo, Dan Mora, and Diego Galindo and colors by Joana Lafuente, Walter Baiamonte, Raúl Angulo, and Marcelo Costa.

The story begins shortly after the events of the preceding volume, with the Rangers fighting Finster’s sleeper monsters and discovering Lord Drakkon, a version of Tommy from an alternate timeline, hidden in Grace Sterling’s Promethea compound. Drakkon escapes and the Rangers must decide what to do next. When they least expect it, Drakkon kills Tommy, thereby beginning the shattering of the timeline and creating several parallel universes for each Ranger team, even those that chronologically follow each other. For example, Tommy is still alive and leading the Zeo Rangers in their bubble of the timeline, even though that takes place chronologically after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Meanwhile, Drakkon leads his armies across the morphin grid, capturing morphers from each Ranger team in order to increase his powers.

In an earlier timeline, Kimberly fights an alternate version of herself, the Ranger Slayer. Flashbacks reveal the Ranger Slayer’s connection to Lord Drakkon while further developing Kimberly’s character, with her parents’ divorce and troubles with her former boyfriend, Matt. Similar secondary plots explore other characters, like Billy’s drive to improve himself and become worthy of his power or Jason’s struggles both with leadership and his father’s illness. As the situation grows darker, Zordon must decide to make a deal with the lesser of two evils in order to save reality.

Kyle Higgins continues to demonstrate why he’s one of the best comics writers in this volume, taking everything fans love from the Power Rangers franchise and adding some real pathos. The Rangers struggle and suffer, face nearly insurmountable odds, and fight on because they know it’s right. He uses the alternate timelines to examine characters in a way that the main story wouldn’t allow, such as time travel enabling Andros, the Red Space Ranger, to meet his sister, Karone, after she became the Pink Galaxy Ranger, thereby offering him hope that he found and saved her from her life as Astronema. A future Bulk can tell a future Kimberly how much he looked up to the Power Rangers and demonstrate the more well-rounded character he became in the seasons after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. And Lord Drakkon can use a holo-projector to assume the place of Tommy Oliver on the Zeo Rangers in an effort to learn more about his place in the grand scheme of the universe through a version of himself that rejected Rita, setting up part of the conflict that will drive him through this narrative. While the core parts of the story exist during the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Higgins’ manages to write in such a way that there’s genuine suspense and readers can’t just count on things working out so that these comics will align with the franchise canon. Finally, like the other Deluxe Editions, this volume concludes with a cover gallery showcasing the amazing artwork that went into each issue and the gorgeous variant covers that readers may not have seen at their local comic shop.

Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon, written by Kyle Higgins, illustrated by Giuseppe Cafaro, colored by Marcelo Costa, and with Jason David Frank as a special consultant, tells the story of Tommy Oliver over twenty years since the events of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Recently losing his teaching job due to budget cuts, Tommy deals with aging and the loneliness that comes with it as his wife Katherine Hillard heads off-world on a trip to Triforia. A Space Patrol Delta (S.P.D.) cadet named Anara seeks Tommy out to let him know that his son, J.J., another S.P.D. cadet, has disappeared. Together, they must find him with Tommy using the Master Morpher to access his old powers one last time.

Like Marvel’s “Old Man Logan” storyline, much of the story focuses on the sense of nostalgia and things left unfinished that accompanies aging. Early in the story, Tommy asks Kat, “Do you ever… I mean… does it ever bother you? How… little we actually did? …It doesn’t really feel any safer, does it?” In their choice to portray the Rangers as aging, rather than simply waiting unchanged for the next “Legendary” episode, Higgins and Cafaro make a bold decision, much like Higgins’ work on Boom! Studios’ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series. The story still features space aliens, monsters, and magic, but also a great sense of loss and sacrifice. It takes what fans loved from the franchise as children and supplements it with mature themes for them to enjoy now that they’re adults.

Soul of the Dragon builds on the Power Rangers Ninja Steel episode “Dimensions in Danger,” both in portraying Tommy and Kat as married and in the use of the Master Morpher. Anara speculates that either Billy Cranston from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or Angela Fairweather from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue may have constructed the Master Morpher. The story also serves to help explain the disappearance of Scorpina from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and her absence from the Zordon wave scene at the end of Power Rangers: In Space as well as resolving the fate of Lokar. In a nice touch, the final battle involving the S.P.D. Rangers also includes the Blue Senturion from Power Rangers Turbo, who had previously appeared in a videogame in the Power Rangers S.P.D. episode, “Stakeout.” Like Brenden Fletcher, Kelly Thompson, and Tini Howard's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink, this story gives resolution to a fan-favorite character.½

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Year Two collects Boom! Studios’ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers nos. 13-24 and both the 2016 and 2017 Annuals, written by Kyle Higgins with art by Hendry Prasetya, Daniel Bayliss, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Jonas Scharf, and Jagdish Kumar. The story picks up where year one left off, with Tommy and Billy trapped in a parallel universe ruled by a version of Tommy who remained with Rita Repulsa and became Lord Drakkon. Meanwhile, in the main universe, Jason, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly work to get their powers back after their encounter with the Black Dragon.

After appearing to defeat both Rita in our universe and Lord Drakkon in the other one, the Rangers return home, where, with the help of Saba from the parallel universe, they must rebuild the Command Center and restore Zordon, who is floating untethered through time. Grace Sterling, the owner of tech company Promethea, offers to help the Rangers and they take her up on her offer. When Zordon is restored, he reveals that Grace was the Red Ranger in 1969 and led her team in defeating the Green Psycho Ranger on the Moon, though three of her team members died on the mission. Her decisions with Promethea, while coming from a desire to protect, lead the Rangers to question if they go too far as she escalates battles, something Zordon explicitly forbade the Rangers from doing.

When it’s discovered that Grace captured Lord Drakkon, who was pulled into our universe with the others upon their return, the Rangers must decide what to do. Saba decides to kill Lord Drakkon, but Drakkon escapes, thus setting the stage for the “Shattered Grid” storyline.

Kyle Higgins continues to demonstrate why he’s one of the best comics writers in this volume, taking everything fans love of Power Rangers and adding some real pathos. He shows the Rangers grappling with the loyalty to Zordon as they question his withholding of information. Zack says, “Not to be cynical here… but it’s starting to feel like a pattern, Zordon. You want us to trust you, but it doesn’t feel like you trust us.” Higgins shows the lifelong consequences of Grace losing her team in a battle in which they were unprepared. He also shows how Jason struggles with the mantle of leadership, wanting to look out for his team and set the right example, even as it begins to physically wear on him. In his foreword, Austin St. John writes of his portrayal of the character on screen, “I wanted to make sure it was clear that, even in his darkest moments, Jason was fighting an internal battle too. One of the heart. He is and will always be a Herculean figure that is happy to take zero credit, wanting to empower his team to do what is right and just, but he is also a master and commander of the battle field, ready and willing to sacrifice himself for the greater cause.”

The secondary stories that follow the main storyline help reinforce the themes Higgins explores. In “Only the Strong,” Trey and Terry Moore give Goldar a backstory, explaining how far he’ll go while also offering insight into Lord Zedd. Trey Moore and Frazer Irving’s “Perfect” shows the twisted mind of Finster and how he views all the evil things he’s done as in service to his art. Trey Moore and French Carlomagno’s “Psychotic” shows the origin of Psycho Green and helps explain the later Psycho Rangers as a result. Finally, “Forever Mighty Morphin Black” by Jamal Campbell shows Zack helping the Adam Park of a different parallel universe when he needs help. Various Zacks and Adams from across the multiverse work together to defeat a crystal monster in a story that both reaffirms what it means to be a Ranger and allows Campbell to experiment with the costume design.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Year Two is a fantastic collection that proves why the franchise continues to entertain 25 years after it began. Higgins’ work is easily some of the best in comics and he’s working with top-notch artists and others to bring it to life. A must-read for anyone who has ever or currently does watch Power Rangers!

In November of 1991, the Soviet Union is coming to an end. What happened to the things they had, the secluded cities and the nuclear weapons, and then supercomputers, is unknown to them. In this book is an action packed, blood filled, fight to the death for a special kind of AI in a supercomputer, one named Roger, who think's he's a ten year old boy.

Check out my full review here!

https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/new-heart-wrenching-comi...

Not a huge fan of Deathstroke, but the saving grace was the "you're too old, prove otherwise" storyline.

I liked the connection to the Court of Owls, but the Hush-like supervillain was a bit tired.

As good as volume one, but it has a definite feeling of being a bridge between two major events. This isn't disappointing, but instead makes me feel really anxious to start the next volume.