Have You Read: Batman Hush

       Hush was a tremendously created, ultimately mesmerizing and original story written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by comic book legend Jim Lee. This story features the majority of Batman’s most popular enemies along with a substantially large cast of supporting allies, ready to help the Caped Crusader unravel the mystery of Hush, and also survive the experience.

     Hush is essentially a series of events pitting Batman against several of his most deadly foes. Each villain has their own individual “evil plan”, which acts as a subplot for the entire series. Hush consists of two volumes, totaling 12 issues. Volume one features guest appearances by Oracle, Huntress and Catwoman along with villains such as Killer Croc and Poison Ivy. The events in the first volume are not as connected as they are in volume two, but there are certain arcs that intertwine, concluding with a showdown between Batman and the Man of Steel (not unlike the classic battle between the two in The Dark Knight Returns).

      Volume two still features slightly separate story arcs based on a particular villain, but mainly focuses on a character named Thomas Elliot, an old childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s. This is where we get a full look at the new villain called Hush, and with him comes many surprises. Nightwing, Harley Quinn and the Joker are all necessary pieces to the puzzle that is this story and work well to advance the book’s subplots. Much more waits inside the pages of Batman: Hush volumes one and two, but I don’t want to spoil it all now do I?

       Batman: Hush is one of the greatest comic stories ever; compiling everything you could ever want from a story featuring this character. Action, great artwork, great storytelling, mysteries and Batman, what more could you want? If you haven’t read these two volumes I suggest you visit your nearest comic book store and check’em out.

Have You Read: Ultimate Spider-Man

     Back in the year 2000, Spiderman had been a character in comics for almost 40 years and people, including the hero’s writers, began to notice that the character was aging. He was still “the most relatable hero in comics” and yes, the children who read the comics back in the day have grown up with him, but writers wanted to attract the attention of kids and teenagers of today. One way to do this would be to reboot the character. Problem is, 40 years of the character has sparked a lot of fans and to suddenly change that character and revert him back to his teenage years would be almost insulting to the readers. So Marvel found a way to successfully reboot the superhero while still maintaining him at his current age: create a new universe, separate from the main Marvel world, titled the Ultimate Universe, thus creating “Ultimate Spiderman”.

     Ultimate took a fresh, modern take on the classic character, reverting him back to his origins and redefining other key characters such as MJ, Harry Osborn and many others. But while Spiderman remained the same wisecracking, pure-hearted superhero, most of the changes revolve around Spidey’s villains. Electro is now completely made of electricity, Green Goblin is transformed into a hulk/demon-like monster and Venom’s entire origin relates to Peter’s parents and is not from outer space. New villains and new characters allowed for fresh takes on classic storylines from throughout Spiderman’s history including famous story arcs like The Venom Saga, The Sinister Six and even The Clone Saga. This new universe opened many opportunities for artist Mark Bagley and writer Brian Michael Bendis. Ultimate Spiderman lasted 11 years, ending in June of last year and released 160 issues. Overall, if you are a fan of Spidey and haven’t read the Ultimate books, I recommend you start. It gives you a look back at his origins along with many new twists and turns that keep it different from anything we’ve seen from the character before. Check it out, it’s “Ultimate”.

Have You Read: Batman Knightfall

      Knightfall is the brilliant story, written by Doug Moench and Chuck Dixon, about Batman confronting his greatest adversaries, but one who is his equal, his better. Knighfall is split into three parts: Broken Bat, Who Rules The Night and Knightsend. Created in the early 90’s, DC Comics and Batman were at their best; their art was unmatchable and their stories were thrilling as ever.

 

     Broken Bat gives you a glimpse at Batman in his weakest moments. With Arkham Asylum practically destroyed Gotham’s most vial criminals are free to wreak havoc throughout the city and Batman is left to stop them, alone. Over the course of the many issues in part one, Batman grows increasingly exhausted until he finally reaches his breaking point, and Bane. Who Rules The Night focuses on the point of view of Tim Drake’s Robin who is forced to work alongside Bruce’s replacement, Jean Paul Valley, after Bruce’s unfortunate accident battling Bane. Unfortunately, this new Batman appears even more aggressive and heartless then the original, and adding high-tech upgrades to his suit poses him as an even greater threat. Robin is left to put an end to Jean Paul’s madness, until the original Dark Knight Returns. Batman is forced to defeat Azrael after he defeated Bane in Knightsend. Nightwing and Robin aid him in battle, but it is ultimately Batman’s responsibility to vanquish a foe even Bane could not defeat.

       Knightfall is one of those great Batman tales that will stick with you forever. You see the Dark Knight at his weakest and at his strongest along with an all-star cast of guest villains like Joker, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy, along with guest heroes such as Nightwing and Robin. Trust me when I tell you that Knightfall is one story you wont want to miss. The battle of Bane! The battle of the Batmen! Check it out!

Have You Read: Marvel Civil War

If you’re a fan of comic book “epics”, graphic novel sized stories and tales that take your favorite classic characters and pit them against each other in an original story called Marvel: Civil War.

Civil War is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Marvel tales ever told. This very unique story gathers heroes and villains from across the entire Marvel Universe and integrates them into a brand new story. The basic synopsis of the story involves the government and SHIELD requesting that all superheroes reveal their identities to the world and register with the government. This put the many heroes in a bit of a dilemma. People like Ironman and Mr. Fantastic quickly side with SHEILD, while others like Captain America and Luke Cage decide to become fugitives and rebel against the registration. All of the heroes must choose a side, pitting friends and family against one another in the Marvel Civil War.

If my quick description of the story didn’t persuade you then maybe by telling you this great comic saga includes: the battles of Ironman and Spider-man, Ironman and Cap, an all out war between the heroes of the Marvel Universe, Peter Parker revealing his secret identity to the world and the first appearance of the “Iron Spider” armor designed by Tony Stark, would make up your mind. All of this great action would not have been as great as it is if it weren’t for the tremendous artwork of Steve McNivan, Dexter Vines and Morry Hollowell, along with the superb storytelling by Mark Millar.

-   Spider-man battles Ironman in his newly created Iron Spider costume.

-       Cap and dozens of heroes become criminals in the eyes of SHEILD.

-       This epic ends with an all out showdown between Ironman and Captain America.

Trust me, your opinion of the Marvel Universe will change forever after you read Civil War, but more importantly, the Marvel Universe itself will change after Civil War… check it out, true believers!