World Comic Book Review

28th March 2024

In the market for a giant weaponised robot? It pays to buy Japanese.

North Dakota in the United States has legislation which specifically allows flying drones used for policing to be equipped with Tasers, pepper spray and rubber bullets. This is not new thinking. Comic books both in the US and Japan have long considered militarised robots, although ordinarily on a gargantuan scale for visual effect. (For the purposes of this discussion, we exclude “mecha” and other forms of exoskeletons, like “Iron Man”, “Gundam”, and “Neon Genesis Evangelion”).

In US comic books, most robots tend to be opponents to altruistic superheroes. Here is the schematic for a Sentinel, a mutant hunting robot most often seen in Marvel Comic’s “Uncanny X-men” titles:

sentinel drone

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Project Nemesis #1-6 (review)

Project Nemesis #1-6 (review)
(American Gothic Press, October 2015 – June 2016)
Writer: Jeremy Robinson

American Gothic Press’ “Project Nemesis” is a comic book adaptation of the same-titled novel. “Project Nemesis” starts with two plot springboards:

a. the murder of a young Japanese girl named Maigo; and
b. the discovery of what seems like the fossilized remains of an ancient giant reptile (fans of the Japanese “kaiju” genre, discussed further below, will recognize the fossil as being similar to Hollywood’s first attempt to adapt the “Godzilla” franchise) by a character named General Lance Gordon and two accomplices, one of which is killed onsite in order to keep the whole thing under wraps.

The comic then segues to introducing the protagonist, Jon Hudson. Hudson is a lead investigator for the United States Department of Homeland Security’s “Fusion Center-P”. This unit is considered by other agents as a joke because it handles paranormal threats to national security (recalling shades of the television series “The X-Files”). The story finds Hudson and a sheriff named Collins reluctantly hunting down a sasquatch.

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Marvel Vehicles: Owner’s Workshop Manual (review)

Marvel Vehicles
Owner’s Workshop Manual (review)

(Haynes Publishing, 2014)
Writer: Alex Irvine

Haynes manuals are well-known to car and motorcycle enthusiasts as an eminent resource for the maintenance and repair of certain types of vehicles. The series of manuals covers approximately 300 cars and 150 motorcycles.

Occasionally however Haynes branches out into areas outside of motor vehicles. This manual, on the vehicles appearing in US comic book publisher Marvel Comics, is one such example.

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Our Top Ten Favourite Comic Book Infographics in 2016

Infographics are a visually engaging, sometimes clever, and usually innovative way of projecting information. There have been some excellent infographics published in respect of comic books (and related media) recently. Here are our top ten, in reverse order. (Where we have been able to credit the creators, we have done so.) The only shame of these is that the concepts almost exclusively relate to the titles of the two big US publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Comics. If readers are aware of any others, especially relating to other publishers, please let us know.

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